


It's a Hunter's Life for Me

by Bookdragon123_4



Series: Watcher of Worlds [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Author is bad at tagging, Self-Insert, not full cannon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:14:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21848758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookdragon123_4/pseuds/Bookdragon123_4
Summary: Jade goes hunting with the boys.This work will be spanning many fandoms. If you don’t want to read about a particular one, then I suggest you read “Watcher of Worlds” before proceeding to your preferred fandom work.Anything recognizable is the property of the CW.
Series: Watcher of Worlds [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1481648
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, the scenes aren’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> "Regular Speak"  
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

I landed on the edge of a forest. It was a nice change from appearing in the middle of a battle. 

  
I turned in a circle to see if I could find any indication of where I was. Behind me, there was an old barn. It took a second, but I recognized it. 

‘Yes! I’m in Supernatural.’

I did a little happy dance, Supernatural was my favorite TV show ever. Once I was done, I calmed down and got to business. I sat down to start brainstorming on how to introduce myself to the boys. 

‘I think I will come in before Castiel. That will give Bobby a chance to meet me.’

I nodded to myself, then moved off into the tree line and settled down to meditate. It had been a while and I needed to clear my mind.

\------------------

I opened my eyes at the familiar purr of the Impala. Dean got out, then Bobby appeared in his truck. 

  
I waited for another couple of hours, then walked to the barn door. I phased through and re-materialized on the other side. Immediately, I saw Dean pointing a shotgun at me. I walked forward. Dean fired, so I phased to let the round pass through me. I stopped a good few feet from the men. 

“Who are you?” Bobby was the first to speak.

“What are you,” Dean added, still pointing his shotgun at me. 

I smiled gently. “My name is Jade. Your resurrection summoned me here to you. I am to watch over you and your brother.”

Dean opened his mouth. I answered his unspoken questions. “No, I’m not the one who saved you, Dean. He’s coming later. As for what I am, I’m human, for the most part.”

“What do you mean, for the most part?” Bobby had the demon knife in his hands.

“The other part of me is something I, personally, call a mystic.“ 

There was no time for clarification. I smirked when I felt a presence outside. “Looks like your savior has arrived.”

The boys turned to the door again. The wind picked up and the lights started flickering. The barn door flew open to reveal Castiel. I had to shield my eyes. I could see a bright, hazy avatar around the angel. I realized it was his true form. It took me a moment, but I was able to mentally block the sight, so I could look at Castiel normally.

  
He stalked forward. Dean fired at him, not phasing him. 

This alarmed Dean. When Cas got within arm’s length, Bobby stabbed Castiel in the chest. I chuckled as he simply pulled the knife back out. 

“Who are you?” Dean asked.

Castiel’s voice was as gravely as I remembered. “I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.”

I had to contain a squeal of excitement at hearing my favorite line.

Dean scoffed. “Yeah, thanks for that.” He stabbed Castiel in the heart with the demon knife. Cas just looked down and pulled the knife from his body. It dropped to the ground with a clank. 

Castiel wasn’t smiling. “We need to talk, Dean. Alone.”

Bobby came up behind Cas with a crowbar. Castiel turned around and sent him to sleep as well. 

Dean made an aborted movement towards Bobby.

“Your friend's alive,” Castiel told him. 

Castiel moved towards me. He stopped and squinted. 

“You are not human,” He stated. “But you are no supernatural being I know.”

I nodded at him and drew myself to my full height. “Greetings, Castiel. Look into my soul for your answers and see that I mean no harm.” I dropped my formal air. “Also, I know what you will say anyway. No need for me to sleep.”

Castiel paused, looking, for a second, then nodded. “You may stay.” He turned back to Dean, who was staring at our interactions. 

“Who are you?” Dean repeated his question. 

“Castiel”

“Yeah, I figured that much.” Dean was getting mad. “I mean, what are you?”

“ I'm an angel of the Lord.” Castiel’s response was deadpanned. 

“Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing.” Dean scoffed. 

“This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith.” Cas sounded disappointed. Thunder crashed. Lightning lit up the barn, to reveal the silhouette of enormous wings behind Castiel. Dean gapped. 

Once he got over the sight, Dean was back to normal. “ Some angel you are. You burned out that poor woman's eyes.”

Cas shook his head. “I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be overwhelming to humans. And so can my real voice, but you already knew that.”

That shocked Dean. “ Do you mean the gas station and the motel? That was you talking? Buddy, next time, lower the volume.” 

“That was my mistake. Certain people, special people, can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong.”

Castiel was walking around the barn, looking over the supplies Dean and Bobby brought. 

“And what visage are you in now, huh? What, holy tax accountant?” 

  
I smiled at Dean’s snark. 

Castiel didn’t understand. He picked at his coat. “This? This is a vessel.”

That didn’t sit well with Dean.

“You're possessing some poor bastard?”

Castiel’s voice emotion didn’t change as he explained. “He's a devout man. He actually prayed for this.”

Dean was getting impatient. “Look, pal, I'm not buying what you're selling. So who are you, really?”

“ I told you.” Now Castiel was getting irritated. 

“Right. And why would an angel rescue me from hell?”

I could hear the self-depreciation in his voice. 

Castiel softened. “Good things do happen, Dean.”

Dean’s expression was closed off. “Not in my experience.”

“What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved?” Castiel couldn’t understand. He moved closer to Dean.

“Why did you do it?” Dean’s voice was almost desperate for an answer.

“ Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you.”

With that declaration, Castiel disappeared.

\-------------------

Dean turned to me. “You know that guy?”

“Yeah, I do. He didn’t know me, though. Now, let’s wake Bobby up.” 

I moved over towards Bobby. Dean stepped in front of me before I could reach him.

“Woah. What’re you going to do?”

I placed my hands on my hips, trying to look intimidating, but having to look up to make eye contact sort of ruined the vibe.

“I’m going to wake him up. Cas sent him into a deep sleep, you won’t be able to wake him on your own. You would have to let it wear off naturally, and have him take a couple of hours to wake up. I can wake him up now.”

Dean stepped aside after a second of thinking. I knelt beside Bobby and placed a hand on his head. I reached into his mind and woke him up. 

“Dean? What happened?” 

Dean was helping Bobby up, while he explained. “The man that came in, says he’s an Angel of the Lord. That God needs me and Sammy.”

“Really? And you believe him?” Bobby started to gather their equipment. 

“I don’t know, not really, but Pixi over there seems to.” Dean gestured over to me. I glared at him for the hight jab. ‘Not that he’s wrong. Even Bobby is at least a half-head taller than me.’  
  
“Well, come on. Let’s go back to my place. We can look through the lore.” Bobby had finished collecting their gear. 

“Yeah, you’re right.” 

Dean made for the barn door. I followed him to his car. When I caught a closer look, I couldn’t help but smile. Baby was exactly the same as she was in the show. 

“Baby!”

I walked over to her and just stood there, looking. 

“At least you have good taste in cars. Are you coming with us?”

Dean came up behind me. 

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’ll be sticking around for a while.”

We both got into the car. 

As Dean was adjusting the rear-view mirror, he caught my eye. 

“I’m going to test you when we get to Bobby’s. If you pass the tests, then you can stay. Just know, if you turn evil, I won’t hesitate.”

“Of, course. I would expect nothing less.” I held Dean’s gaze. 

Dean pulled onto the road, and we were off. 

\----------------------  
  
“ Tell me what else it could've been.”

“All I know is I was not groped by an angel.”

Sam and Dean were still arguing about Castiel’s identity at Bobby’s house. Dean had introduced me when Sam returned to Bobby’s from wherever he had been. 

Bobby’s house was roughly the same as it was in the show, even if it was a little more lived in. 

Bobby was already looking through books. 

Dean turned to me once we got into the living room. 

“Alright. It’s test time.”

I held my arm out as he cut the back of it using a silver blade. I drank down the shot of holy water Bobby gave me. Finally, I stood there as Sam poured salt into my hand. 

“Satisfied?” I quirked an eyebrow. 

“For now,” Dean replied. 

Sam shook his head at his brother and continued with their conversation. 

“Why do you think this Castiel would lie to you about it?”

Dean jumped back in as well. “Maybe he's some kind of demon. Demons lie.”

“A demon who's immune to salt rounds? And devils' traps? And Ruby's knife? Dean, Lilith is scared of that thing.”

Sam sounded skeptical as he took a seat and also started looking through lore books. I picked one up and settled on the couch. The book was on vampires. I started to read while keeping an ear on the conversation.

“Don't you think that if angels were real, some hunter somewhere would have seen one, at some point, ever?”

“ Yeah, you just did, Dean.” 

I huffed a laugh at Sam’s sarcasm. Dean didn’t appreciate it as much.

“Trying to come up with a theory, okay?”

“Dean, we have a theory.” Sam was starting to get exasperated with his brother. 

“Yeah. One with a little less fairy dust.”

Sam tried to reason with Dean. “I'm not saying we know for sure, I'm just saying that I think-”

“ Okay, okay. That's the point. We don't know for sure. I'm not gonna believe this thing is an angel of the Lord because it says so,” Dean interrupted.

Bobby finally put an end to their squabbling. “You two chuckleheads wanna keep arguing religion or you wanna come and take a look at this? I got stacks of lore. Biblical, pre-Biblical, some of it's in damn cuneiform. It all says an angel can snatch a soul from the pit.”

“What else?”

“What else what?” Bobby didn’t understand why Dean still questioned the matter. 

“What else could do it,” Dean pressed.

“Airlift your ass out of the hot box? As far as I can tell, nothing.” Bobby turned back to his lore books. 

Sam turned to Dean again. “Dean, this is good news.”

“How?” Dean rounded on Sam.

“ Because for once this isn't just another round of demon crap. Maybe you were saved by one of the good guys.” 

“Okay.” 

Sam was starting to reach Dean. 

“Say it's true. Say there are angels. Then what? There's a God?” 

“At this point, Vegas money's on "yeah." 

“There is,” I added to Sam’s statement.

“I don't know, guys.” Dean really wasn’t ready to believe in God yet. 

Now, even Sam was starting to get exasperated with his brother. He stood up. “Okay, look. I know you're not all choir boy about this stuff. But this is becoming less about faith and more and more about proof.”

That got Dean’s attention. “Proof? -

“Yes.”

Dean stopped the pacing he had been doing. “Proof that there's a God out there that gives a crap about me personally? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it.”

“Why not?” 

I knew Sam had had a hard time dealing with his faith when he was younger, so Dean denying it was a little bit of a blow.

“ Because why me? If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me?” 

“Dean” Sam tried to cut in. 

“I've saved some people.” Dean talked over him. “I figure that made up for the stealing and the ditching chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy.”

“Apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs.” Sam joked. 

Dean screwed his face up. “Well, that creeps me out. I don't like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by God.”

“Okay, well, too bad, Dean because I think he wants you to strap on your party hat.” Sam stepped closer to Bobby’s desk to grab another book. 

“Fine.” All of the arguments must have worn Dean down. “What do we know about angels?”

Bobby gestured to all the lore books scattered on the desk in front of him. “Start reading.”

Dean huffed, and turned back to Sam. “You're gonna get me some pie.”

Dean grabbed a book and stalked off, then he paused and turned around. 

Sam held up a hand. “Yes, Dean, I'll get the chips.”

Dean opened his mouth again, but Sam cut him off.

“Dude, when have I ever forgotten the pie?” 

Dean didn’t reply.

“Exactly.”

Sam picked up a set of keys and left the house. 

\------------------------

“I gotta go. Yeah. All right, bye.” Bobby got off the phone. 

Just then, I heard Baby coming up the driveway. Bobby, Dean, and I went out to meet Sam. He was just getting out of the car. 

“Keep the engine running,” Bobby told Sam. 

“Why, what's going on?” Sam paused in turning the car off. 

“I got a friend, one state over. Olivia Lowry. Been tryin’ to reach her for three days on this angel thing. Not like her to ignore calls.” Bobby was packing things into his truck. 

“Olivia Lowry. A hunter, right?” Sam asked.

“Yeah,” Bobby confirmed. “ We're gonna go check on her. You guys follow me.”

Bobby finished packing and got in his truck. Dean and I got into Baby, with Dean taking the driver’s seat. “Scoot over, Sam.”

Before we left, Dean riffled through the grocery bags. “Dude?”

Sam looked up. 

“Where's the pie?”

\------------------------

“Olivia?” Bobby was the first to enter the house. He stopped us from entering though. 

“Bobby?”

He pointed to the doorstep. “Salt line.”

We all carefully stepped over the salt and entered the house. A torn up body was on the floor in the living room. There was blood everywhere. We all recoiled slightly at the smell. With my enhanced senses, the odor was especially ripe. Bobby walked back out of the house.

“Olivia was rocking the EMF meter.” Dean picked up the device that had been in the body’s hand. 

“Spirit activity.” Sam had pulled out their own EMF reader. It was going wild. 

“Yeah, on steroids.”

Dean leaned in closer to look at the body. “I've never seen a ghost do this to a person.”

Bobby came back into the room, his face grim. 

“Bobby, are you all right?” Sam questioned.

“I called some hunters nearby.”

Dean nodded. “We could use the help.”

“Except they ain't answering their phones either.” 

“Something's up, huh?” Dean stood up.

“ Ya think?” Bobby rolled his eyes at Dean. “Let’s split up and check on the other hunters in the area. If anyone’s alive, bring them back to my place.”

Dean and Sam nodded. We split up, Bobby going one way, and Dean, Sam, and I the other. 

\-----------------  
  
“Yeah, we're at Jed's. It's not pretty. Worse than Olivia. What about you?”

Dean was on the phone with Bobby, though I could hear both sides of the conversation.

“I checked on Carl Bates and R.C. Adams. They've redecorated. In red.”

“ What the hell's going on here, Bobby? Why would ghosts wanna gank off-duty hunters?”

“I don't know.” Bobby sounded frustrated. Though, if I couldn’t figure out why all my friends were dying, I’d be frustrated too. “But until we find out, you guys get your asses to my place.”

“We're on our way.” Dean shut the phone and started the car. 

We had to stop for gas on the way back. Sam went to use the restroom and Dean went inside to pay. I stayed in the car. 

It was only a few minutes later when I heard a crash from the restrooms. I swiftly got out of the car and got to the bathroom door at the same time Dean did. Dean had a sawed-off shotgun in his hands.

I could hear a conversation on the other side of the door. 

“... If we'd known Lilith was coming-” Sam was saying.

“ You wouldn't have left innocent people in that police station to die in your place. You did this to me. It was your fault. She was after you, and I paid the price. You left us there to die.” It sounded like another man. 

Dean kicked to door in after we heard another set of crashes. 

The person was a ghost, and he didn’t get any more time to speak, because Dean blasted him away with a salt round. Dean rushed to Sam, who was on the ground. I kept a lookout. 

“How are you feeling? - How many fingers am I holding up?” Dean held up his hand. 

“None. I'll be fine, Dean.”

Dean helped his brother up. They looked at each other. 

“Henriksen.”

“Yep.” Sam brushed his jeans off. 

“Why? What did he want?” 

“Revenge. Because we got him killed.”

“Sam.”

“Well, we did, Dean.”

“All right. Stop right there. Whatever's going on, it's happening to us. I can't get ahold of Bobby. So if you're not thinking answers, don't think at all.”

  
At that, we all got back in the car and Dean sped back to Bobby’s

\-----------

When we got there, the yard was eerily quiet. Something didn’t sit right with the boys, so they got out their salt rounds for their shotguns. Dean passed me a sawed-off. 

I looked at him as he held it out. “You’ll need to defend yourself. I assume you know how.”

I nodded and accepted the gun. 

Once we were all armed. The boys and I moved carefully into the house. 

“Bobby?” Sam called. 

There was a noise from the kitchen. Dean nodded to himself and me. “We'll go. You check outside.”

Sam went out to the scrapyard. 

\---------------------

“Come out, come out, whoever you are,” Dean whispered.

He and I were moving slowly through the kitchen. 

“Dean Winchester.”

We swung around to see a blond girl standing in the doorway. 

“Still so bossy. You don't recognize me? This is what I looked like before that demon cut my hair and dressed me like a slut.”

Dean’s eyes gave a flash of recognition. “Meg?”

She waggled her fingers. “ Hi. It's okay. I'm not a demon.”

Dean had lowered his shotgun a little. “You're the girl that demon was possessing. Meg Masters.”

Her voice was thick with sarcasm. “Nice to finally talk to you when I'm not, you know, choking on my own blood. It's okay. Seriously. I'm just a college girl. Sorry, I was. I was walking home one night, got jumped by all this smoke. Next thing you know, I'm a prisoner here.” She gestured at her body. “You know, I was awake. I had to watch while she murdered people.”

“I'm sorry.”

Meg scoffed. “Oh, yeah? So sorry you had me thrown off a building?” 

“Well, we thought-” 

She cut him off. “No, you didn't think. I kept waiting, praying. I was trapped in there screaming at you, ‘Just help me, please!’ You're supposed to help people. Dean, why didn't you help me?”

“I'm sorry,” Dean repeated. 

“Stop saying you're sorry!” Meg stormed forward. 

“ Meg. Meg. We didn't know.” Dean started to back up, and I followed him.

“No. You just attacked. Did you ever think there was a girl in here? No, you just charged in, slashing and burning. Do you think you're some kind of hero?” Meg’s voice was accusing. 

“No. I don't.” I could hear the pain in Dean’s voice. 

“Damn right. Do you have any idea what it's like to be ridden for months by pure evil while your family has no idea what happened to you?”

“We did the best we could.”

Meg started to sound sad. “It wasn't just me, Dean. I had a sister. A little sister. She worshiped me. You know how little siblings are, right? How they'll do anything for you? She was never the same after I disappeared. She just, She just got lost. And when my body was lying in the morgue? - Beat up, broken?”

“Meg-.” Dean tried to cut in. Meg didn’t let him. 

“Do you know what that did to her? She killed herself! Because of you, Dean. Because all you were thinking about was your family, your revenge, and your demons. Fifty words of Latin a little sooner and I'd still be alive. My baby sister would still be alive. That blood is on your hands, Dean.”

“You're right.” Dean pulled out his normal gun and shot above Meg.

Meg laughed.“Come on, Dean. Did your brain get french-fried in hell? - You can't shoot me with bullets.”

“I'm not shooting you.” Dean motioned to the ceiling. 

Meg looked up. The iron chandelier chain broke and fell on Meg, forcing her to dissipate. 

Just then, Sam and Bobby came in the door.

We congregated in the living room, each of us with our salt guns at the ready. We all shared our ghost stories. Bobby had been attacked by two young girls he knew. 

“So they're all people we know?” 

“Not just know. People we couldn't save.” Sam shook his head. 

“I saw something on Meg. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?”

Sam looked confused. “I don't think so.”

“Like a mark on her hand. Almost like a brand.”

Sam thought hard. “I saw a mark too, on Henriksen.”

“What did it look like?” Bobby was behind his desk.

“Paper?” Sam looked at Bobby. Bobby rifled through his desk for a second, then handed a piece over. 

“Thanks.” Sam took a few seconds to draw. When he held it up, it was a circle with a stylized cross in the middle. 

“That's it.” Dean pointed at the paper. 

Once Bobby got a look at it, he stood up. “I may have seen this before.”

Before he could elaborate, the room cooled down and we could see our breath. 

“ We gotta move. Follow me.” Bobby started collecting books.

The boys stood up as well. “Oh. Okay. Where are we going?”

“Someplace safe, you idiot.” Bobby led the day down to his basement. There was a door down there, which Bobby opened. 

“Bobby is this-?” Sam was inspecting the door.

“-Solid iron. Completely coated in salt. One hundred percent ghost-proof.” Bobby stepped inside, and we followed. Once we were all inside, Bobby shut the door. 

“You built a panic room?” Sam was impressed.

Bobby shrugged. “I had a weekend off.”

“Bobby?” 

Bobby turned to his pseudo-son. “What?”

“You're awesome.” Dean was grinning. 

\----------------------

“Oh. This is why I can't get behind God.”

It had been about fifteen minutes of looking through books before Dean spoke up. 

“What are you talking about?” Sam looked up from his book. 

Dean set his book down and got serious. “If he doesn't exist, fine. Bad crap happens to good people, that's how it is. And no rhyme or reason, just random, horrible, evil. I get it. Okay? I can roll with that. But if he is out there, what's wrong with him? Where the hell is he while these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does he live with himself, you know? Why doesn't he help?”

“ I ain't touching this one with a 10-foot pole.” Bobby didn’t look up from his book. 

“Neither am I,” I added. 

The subject dropped and everyone went back to their books. Bobby was the first to find anything. 

“Found it.”

“What?” Sam had been deep in his book. 

“ The symbol you saw,” Bobby explained. “The brand on the ghosts. It’s the Mark of the Witness.”

“Witness? - Witness to what?” Dean put his book aside.

“ The unnatural. None of them died what you'd call ordinary deaths. See, these ghosts, they were forced to rise. They woke up in agony. They're like rabid dogs. It ain't their fault. Someone rose them on purpose.” Bobby was reading from the book. 

“Who?”

“Do I look like I know?” Bobby rolled his eyes. “But whoever it was used a spell so powerful it left a mark. A brand on their souls. Whoever did this had big plans. It's called the Rising of the Witnesses. It figures into an ancient prophecy.”  
“Wait, wait.” Dean held his hands up. “ What book is that prophecy from?”

“ Well, the widely distributed version's just for tourists, you know. But long story short: Revelations. This is a sign, boys.”

“A sign of what? “ Sam picked up another book. 

“The apocalypse,” I said. The men all looked at me.

“Apocalypse.” Dean was disbelieving. 

“Yep.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“As in "apocalypse" apocalypse? The four horsemen, pestilence $5-a-gallon-gas apocalypse?” Dean had stood up by then. 

“That's the one. The Rise of the Witnesses is a mile marker.” I had put my book aside as well. 

“Okay. So, what do we do now?” Sam was calmer than Dean. 

“ Pfft. Road trip. Grand Canyon, Star Trek Experience, BunnyRanch.” Dean was trying to joke around. 

Bobby wasn’t having it. “ First things first. How about we survive our friends out there?”

I didn’t have an answer.

“Great. Any ideas, aside from staying in this room until Judgment Day?”

It took a few more minutes of reading.

Bobby handed a paper to Sam. “ It's a spell to send the witnesses back to rest.- Should work.”

"Should"? Ha. Great.” Dean started pacing. 

Bobby ignored him. “If I translated correctly. I think I got everything we need here at the house.”

“Any chance you got everything we need here in this room?” Sam asked hopefully. 

Bobby raised an eyebrow. “ So you thought our luck was gonna start now all of a sudden? I don’t have all the ingredients. Plus, spell's gotta be cast over an open fire.”

“Well, I have the flame’s covered.” I conjured a flame in the middle of the room. 

“That’s helpful.” Dean was looking at me with less wariness than he had before. 

“We still need the rest of the ingredients.” Bobby grabbed our shotguns and handed them back out. We got ready to leave the room. 

“Cover each other, and aim carefully. Don't run out of ammo until I'm done, or they'll shred you. Ready?”

We nodded at Bobby, and he opened the door. 

Sam and Bobby went in one direction, and Dean and I went in the other. An apparition appeared in the hallway. It was a young man, with long hair, and he was portly. 

“Hey, Dean. Do you remember me?” 

“Ronald? Huh? With the laser eyes?”

The ghost nodded. “I wish I could say it's good to see you. I am dead because of you.  
You were supposed to help me.”

Before the ghost could speak any more, I shot him. 

“If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk.” I moved passed Dean. 

We moved into the living room, where Henrickson appeared.

“Victor.”

“Dean.” The ghost nodded at us. He opened his mouth, but Dean cut him off. 

“I know. It's my fault you're dead. I left you behind. And the minute I heard about that explosion, I thought I should've known. I should've protected you.”

Henrickson shook his head. “Nuh-uh. Not so fast. You think you left, then Lilith came and we all died in a beautiful blast of white light? If only. Forty-five minutes.”

“What?” Dean paused.

“Over 45 minutes. Lilith said she wanted to have some fun. The secretary was the first.  
Remember her-”

I shot him before he could continue. “Let's go.”

Dean followed me up the stairs. Dean turned around at a noise. He was pulled back down the stairs. “- Uhh! Ronald. Hey, come on, man. I thought we were pals.”

“That's when I was breathing. Now I'm gonna eat you alive. Heh-heh.” Ronald moved forward.

“Dean, duck!” It was years of training that let Dean move immediately. I fired at the ghost and he dispersed just as Sam and Bobby rounded the corner with ingredients in their arms. 

We all made it back down to the panic room in one piece. Bobby shut the door and started on the spell. The room was shaking slightly under the ghost’s power, even if they couldn’t get in. 

I conjured a flame and let Bobby do what he needed with it. After the last ingredient was thrown in the bowl, the room stopped shaking.

We slowly emerged from the room, our shotguns at the ready. No ghosts came at us. 

Once we ascertained there would be no more attacks. Sam and Dean collapsed on the furniture in the living room. 

Their relaxation was short-lived. Castiel appeared in the middle of the room and the boys jumped up. 

“Excellent job with the witnesses.” Castiel was direct, as usual. 

“You were hip to all this?” Dean’s look was accusing.

“I was, uh, made aware.” Cas wasn’t bothered.

“Well, thanks a lot for the angelic assistance. You know, I almost got my heart ripped out of my chest.” Dean stalked up to Castiel.

“But you didn't.” Cas pointed out. 

Dean threw his hands in the air. “I thought angels were supposed to be guardians.  
Fluffy wings, halos You know, Michael Landon. Not dicks.”

That riled Cas up. “ Read the Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier.”

“Yeah? Then why didn't you fight?” I could tell Dean was trying to provoke the angel. 

“ I'm not here to perch on your shoulder. We had larger concerns.”

“Concerns?” Dean said in disbelief. “There were people getting torn to shreds down here.  
And by the way, while all this is going on where the hell is your boss, huh, if there is a God?” 

“There's a God.” Cas was confident. 

Dean shook his head. “I'm not convinced. Because if there's a God, what the hell is he waiting for? Genocide? Monsters roaming the earth? The freaking apocalypse? At what point does he lift a damn finger and help the poor bastards stuck down here?”

“The Lord works-” 

Dean cut him off. “ If you say "mysterious ways," so help me, I will kick your ass.”

I snorted but agreed with Dean. The phrase was used way too much. 

Sam cut in before Dean got even angrier. “So Bobby was right about the witnesses? Was this some kind of a sign of the apocalypse?”

Castiel nodded. “That's why we're here. Big things are afoot.”

“Do I wanna know what kind of things?” Sam stood up at this point. 

“ I sincerely doubt it, but you need to know. The Rising of the Witnesses is one of the 66 seals.”

“I'm guessing that's not a show at SeaWorld,” Dean snarked.

Cas ignored him. “Those seals are being broken by Lilith.”

“She did the spell, she rose the witnesses?” Sam knew that name. She was the demon who had held Dean’s contract. 

“ Mm-hm. And not just here. Twenty other hunters are dead.”

Sam didn’t look happy about that. “Of course. She picked victims the hunters couldn't save. So that they would barrel right after us.” 

“Lilith has a certain sense of humor.” 

All three of the men scowled at Castiel for that. 

“We put those spirits back to rest,” Sam stated. 

“It doesn’t matter. The seal was broken.” Cas shook his head. 

“Why break the seal, anyway?” Dean didn’t understand, not that I expected him to. 

Sam explained to his brother. “ You think of the seals as locks on a door.”

“Okay. The last one opens and?” Dean looked to Cas.

“Lucifer walks free.” 

That shocked both boys though, of all the monsters they had seen, why were they having a hard time thinking the devil was real?

“Lucifer? I thought Lucifer was just a story they told at demon Sunday school. There's no such thing.” Dean was trying his best to not believe in the devil. 

“Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as me.” 

Dean couldn’t say anything to that.

Castiel continued. “Why do you think we're here, walking among you now for the first time in 2000 years? To stop Lucifer. It's why we've arrived.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Well, a bang-up job so far. Stellar work with the witnesses. It's nice.” 

I think if he thought he could get away with a slow-clap, he would have done it. Internally, I sighed. Dean didn’t like people who stood around and did nothing while people got hurt. 

Cas was starting to get impatient with Dean’s attitude. “We tried. There are other battles. Other seals. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. This one we lost. Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my brothers died in the field this week. Do you think the armies of heaven should just follow you around? There's a bigger picture here. You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of hell. I can throw you back in.”

During his mini-rant, Castiel had been getting closer to Dean. By the time he finished, Cas was almost nose-to-nose with him. 

I held Sam back. He was bristling at the threat to his brother, but I knew Castiel had to get that particular threat out his system. It didn’t mean I approved, though. 

I turned to Castiel and spoke for the first time during the discussion. “You should not have said that Castiel.”

Cas turned to me. “ And why not. He needs to learn some respect.”

“Because, you need their help, and threatening him won’t make that help come any easier,” I explained. “Besides, do you really think your superiors would let you do such a thing when they went through so much trouble to get him out?”

“While you are correct, know this. He expects us to come to save them at any time they need it. He needs to understand that we are not their bodyguards.”  
  
“Hey, I’m right here,” Dean protested. 

“Not now, Dean.” I didn’t even turn to look at him. 

“I understand Castiel, just remember that you want them on your side.” 

I kept eye-contact with Cas as he nodded and then left. 

I turned back to the brothers, plus Bobby. Clapping my hands together, I put on a large smile. “Now, who’s ready to sleep for a day.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> "Regular Speak"  
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“Agent Tyler, Agent Perry, Agent Kirk, meet Frank O'Brian.”

It had been several weeks since the rising of the witnesses. I had been at Bobby’s learning more about being a hunter, while the boys were out on cases. 

This time, I was posing as an FBI trainee getting field experience. I didn’t look old enough to be a full agent yet. I was dressed in a lady’s suit with sensible flats on. I never knew when I would need to run. 

“He died of a heart attack, right?” Dean questioned the coroner we were meeting with. 

The coroner nodded. “Three days ago.”

“But O'Brian was 44 years old and according to this a marathon runner.” Sam was looking at the personnel report.

I had slipped on my professional mask. And, to be honest, the boys had nothing on me in the way of exuding the ‘I’m the real deal’ vibe.

The coroner shrugged. “Everybody drops dead sooner or later. It's why I got job security.”

Sam pressed the matter. “But Frank kicked it here. Just yesterday, two perfectly healthy men bit it in Maumee, all heart attacks. You don't think that's strange?”

“It sounds like Maumee's problem.” It was clear the coroner didn’t really care. “Why does the FBI give a damn, anyway?”

“ We just want to see the results of Frank's autopsy.” Dean deflected. 

“What autopsy?”

“ The one you're gonna do.”

The coroner balked at Dean’s tone but took out his tools anyway. Right before he made the first cut, he looked up at us. “ First dead body?”

“Far from it,” Dean answered.

The coroner continued. “Oh, good. Because these suckers can get pretty ripe. Hey, hand me those rib cutters, would you?” 

I handed the man the requested tool.

“Is that from a wedding ring? I didn't think Frank was married.” Sam was looking at the man’s fingers.

“Ain't my department.” The coroner continued to cut into the body. 

“Any idea how he got these?” Sam had moved on to the dead man’s arm, where he had some impressive abrasions. 

“You know what? When you drop dead, you actually tend to drop. The body probably got scraped up when it hit the ground.”

There were a few seconds of silence, then the coroner huffed. “Huh.”

Sam looked up. “What?”

“ I can't find any blockages in any of the major arteries. The heart looks pretty damn healthy. Hold that a second, would you?”

He handed Dean the organ, then cut into the body some more. Dean gave Sam and me a look of disgust. 

A liquid sprayed out onto Sam, who had been chuckling at his brother’s disgust at holding a heart. Upon feeling the liquid, his face changed to the same expression as Dean’s.

“Oh, sorry. Spleen juice.” 

I had to hold back a laugh at that. 

Needless to say, we got out of the morgue real soon after. 

\--------------------

“Hell's bells, Linus, have you seen my - Who are they?”

The sheriff came out of his office. Dean, Sam, and I were waiting, as the young sheriff at the front desk had told us he was busy.

“Federal agents, I-” That was all the newbie got out before his superior cut him off. 

“And you kept them waiting?” The look the head Sherif was shooting the young man promised hell later. 

“ - You said not to disturb-” 

He ignored the young man. “Come on back, fellas.” The sheriff motioned to his open door. 

We got up and followed him, but he stopped us at the door.

“Shoes off.”

Dean shot Sam and I looks, but we all took off our shoes. I was barefoot, while the boys had on socks.

Once he had shut the door. The sheriff turned to us and held out his hand for a shake. 

“Al Britton. Good to meet you.”

We all shook hands, then took seats around Sheriff Britton’s desk. 

Before he did anything else, the sheriff slathered his hands in hand-sanitizer. The three of us exchanged glances at the unusual act. Once he was done, we got down to business. 

“Okay. So, what can I do for Uncle Sam?”

Sam started off. “Well, we're looking into the death of Frank O'Brian. We understand some of your men found his body?”

The sheriff nodded. “They did. Me and Frank, we were friends. Hell, we were Gamecocks.”

We all gave him questioning looks. He clarified. 

“That's our softball team's name. They're majestic animals. I knew Frank since high school. To be honest, I just this morning got up the strength to go see him. Frank was- He was a good man.”

“Yeah. Big heart.” Dean joked. Sam shot him a glare.

“Before he died, did you notice Frank acting strange? - Maybe scared of something?” Sam was fishing for signs of the supernatural.

“ Oh, hell yeah. Real jumpy.” Sheriff Britton nodded.

“Do you know what scared him?” Sam pressed. 

“ No. He wouldn't answer his phone. Finally sent some of my boys over to check on him and- Well, you know the rest.” He gave in to a violent bout of coughing, then poured more sanitizer on his hands. He turned back to us once he was done. “So why do the feds give a crap? You don't really think there's a case here.”

“No, no, it's probably nothing. Just a heart attack.” Sam reassured him.

Sam asked a few more questions, then we wrapped up and left the building. 

\-----------------------

“ No way that was a heart attack.”

As soon as we were out of the building, Sam and Dean dropped their federal agent masks. 

“Definitely no way. Three victims, all with those red scratches. All went from jittery to terrified to dead within 48 hours.” Sam was as convinced as his brother.

“So something scared them to death? All right, so what can do that?” Dean was looking around at all the people on the street. 

“What can't? Ghosts, vampires, chupacabra. Could be a hundred things.” Sam checked off monsters on his fingers.

“Yeah. So we make a list and start crossing things off. Right. Who was the last person to see Frank O'Brian alive?”

“ His neighbor, Mark Hutchins,” Sam replied. 

“Hang on, hang on.” Dean held out his arms to stop us. 

“What?” Sam stopped and looked at Dean.

“I don't like the looks of those teenagers down there. Let's walk this way.” Dean started to cross the street. 

Sam and I shared confused glances but followed Dean anyways.

\------------------

“Tyler and Perry. Just like Aerosmith. Plus Kirk, from Star Trek.” 

We were sitting on a couch in Mark Hutchins’s living room. I was in between the boys. The room was full of terrariums and cages hat held an assortment of animals. Mark even had a snake around his shoulders. 

The boys were looking distinctly uncomfortable being around the snake, but I was completely fine, even happy. I loved animals, snakes especially. 

“ Yeah, small world. So the last time you saw Frank O'Brian…?

“Monday. He was watching me from his window. I waved at him, but he just closed the curtains.” Mark gestured to a window, through which we could see another window for the neighboring house.

“Hmm. Did you speak to him recently? Did he seem different? - Scared?”

Mark nodded vigorously. “ - Oh, totally. He was freaking out.”

“Do you know what scared him?” Dean had been glancing around at all the animal enclosures. 

“Well, yeah. Witches.”

“Witches? Like?” That had gotten the boys’ interest. 

“ Wizard of Oz was on TV the other night, right? And he said that green bitch was totally out to get him.” Mark was talking quietly as if he was sharing a secret.

“Does anything else scare him,” Sam pressed. 

“Everything else scared him. Al Qaeda, ferrets, artificial sweetener, those PEZ dispensers with their dead little eyes. Lots of stuff.”

Dean had gone back to looking at the animals again. 

“So tell me, what was Frank like?” Sam was the only one of the two trying to get information. 

Mark was hesitant. “ I mean, he's dead, you know, I don't want to hammer him but,- He got better.”

“Got better?” I pipped up, having to take Dean’s place in the questioning. 

“Well, in high school he was a dick.” Mark elaborated

“A dick?” Sam was a little disbelieving.

Mark shrugged. “ Like a bully. I mean, he probably taped half the town's butt cheeks together - Heh. mine included.”

“So he pissed a lot of people off. Do you think anyone would have wanted to get revenge?” Dean jumped back in the conversation.

“Well, I don't - Frank had a heart attack, right?” Mark started to look concerned.

“There are ways to fake a heart attack. We’re just covering all our bases, sir.”

“No, I don't think so. As I said, he got better. And after what happened to his wife -”

“ His wife? So he was married?” I inquired. 

Mark’s tone calmed down. “ She died, about 20 years ago. Frank was really broken up about it.”

Mark noticed Dean looking at the snake on his shoulders. He perked up. “Don't be scared at Donny, he's a sweetheart. It's Marie you gotta look out for. She smells fear.”

Dean and I looked over the couch to see the head of an enormous anaconda coming over. Dean looked terrified. I smiled. I picked up the snake’s body and gently shifted her off of Dean’s shoulder. Dean got up and left, as did Sam.

I looked at Mark as I pet the snake. “Sorry, sir. My supervisors don’t care for large snakes. Thank you for your cooperation.”

I slid the anaconda’s body off my lap and onto the couch, then left as well. 

\------------------------------

“Hey. Any luck at the county clerk's office?”

It was night. Dean had stayed in the car when Sam and I had gone into the clerk’s office to look up Frank's wife.

Sam shrugged. “I'm not sure I'd call it luck. Frank's wife, Jessie, was manic depressive. She went off her meds back in '88 and vanished. They found her two weeks later, three towns over, strung up in her motel room. Suicide.”

“Any chance Frank helped her along to the other side?” Dean handed the paper copy we had printed back to Sam as he started up the car.

I popped my head over the seat back. “ No, Frank was working a swing shift when she disappeared. Airtight alibi. How was Frank's place?”

Dean shook his head. “Clean. Searched it top to bottom, no EMF, no hex bags, no sulfur. So probably no ghost, no witches, no demons.”

“Three down and 97 to go,” Sam sighed. 

“Yeah.”

Sam looked out the window, then turned to Dean. “Dude, you're going 20.”

At Sam’s observation, I looked out the window as well. The ground was passing by slower than normal. 

“And?” Dean’s hands were tight on the wheel.

“That's the speed limit.” Sam pointed out. 

“What? Safety's a crime now?” Dean glanced at his brother. Sam just looked away, not having a good answer for him. 

A few minutes later, and Dean went straight instead of turning to get to the hotel we were staying at. 

“ Where are you going? That was our hotel.”

“Sam, I'm not gonna make a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. I'm not suicidal.” 

Sam looked at Dean as if he had grown a second head.

Dean shook his head. “ Did I just say that? That's kind of weird.”

“Did you hear something?” I asked from the back seat. I rummaged around in the duffel bag on the floor of the car. The noise was an EMF reader going off. I passed it to Sam when he held out his hand for it. 

Sam fiddled with the knobs, then moved it closer to Dean. It whined louder.

Dean freaked out. 

“What the hell? Am I haunted? Am I haunted? “

We couldn’t figure it out so we just went to our hotel room. Sam and I got ready for bed and went to sleep. I didn’t know where Dean had gone off to.

But by now, the boys and I had a system. We would rent one room, to keep us together. I would either take the couch if we had one, or I would pull a cot out from my pocket space. Sam and Dean were used to seeing me pull things out by now. 

This time, I got to sleep in one of the beds.

‘ That’s what you get for being late to sleep, Dean’

\------------------------

“Yeah, all right, Bobby. Keep looking.” Sam got off the phone and took one of the doughnuts from the box we had gotten.

We walked over to the Impala to see Dean laying across the front seat, air-drumming to “Eye of the Tiger.” Sam banged on the hood to alert Dean we were there. 

Dean bolted upright and turned the music off. It looked like we had startled him. He got out of the car. 

“Dude, look at this.” Dean held out his arm to show three scratch marks on his forearm.

Sam stared, and I handed the box of doughnuts to Dean. 

“I just talked to Bobby.”

“- And? -” Dean took the box, smelled it, then threw it in the car.   
  
“ Well, you're not gonna like it. It's a ghost sickness.”

“Ghost sickness? Oh, God, no. ” Dean looked like Sam had just told him it was herpes.

“Yeah.”

“I don't know what that is.” Dean deadpanned.

I took up the explanation. “Some cultures believe spirits can infect the living with a disease, which is why they stopped displaying bodies and started taking them to funeral homes.”

“Get to the good stuff.” Dean waved his hand dismissively. 

Sam continued for me. “Symptoms are: You get anxious, then scared, then really scared, then your heart gives out. Sound familiar?”

Dean’s brow furrowed. “But we haven't seen a ghost in weeks.”

“I doubt you caught it from a ghost. Once a spirit infects that first-person, ghost sickness can spread like any sickness. Through a cough, a handshake. It's like the flu.” Now, Frank O'Brian was the first to die which means he was probably the first infected. Patient zero.” Sam was in full information mode. 

“Our very own outbreak monkey.” Dean rolled his eyes. 

“Right. Get this. Frank was in Maumee over the weekend for a softball tournament. Which is where he must have infected the other two.”

“Were they Gamecocks?” Dean sniggered a little at the name. 

I rolled my eyes at his childishness. 

“ Cornjerkers.” Sam’s face told me what he thought of that name.

“A ghost infected Frank, he passed it on to the other guys, then I got it from his corpse?” Dean pieced together a timeline.

Sam nodded. “Right.” 

None of it reassured Dean. “So now what? I have 48 hours before I go insane and my heart stops?”

“ More like 24.” 

I shot Sam a look. ‘Real helpful, Sam.’

“Super. Why me? Why not you? You got hit with spleen juice.” Dean gestured to where the organ liquid had splattered on Sam.

“See, Bobby and I have a theory about that too. It turns out all three victims shared a certain personality type. Frank was a bully, the other two: One was a vice-principal, the other was a bouncer. Basically, they were all dicks.” Sam didn’t look like he wanted to tell his brother about his theory.

“So you're saying I'm a dick?” Dean got offended, as was to be expected.

“ No, no, it's not just that. All three victims used fear as a weapon. Now, this disease is returning the favor.” Sam tried to calm Dean down.

“I don't scare people.” Dean looked at Sam as if he was crazy.

Sam huffed and rolled his eyes. “Dean, all we do is scare people.”

“Then you're a dick too.”

“Apparently, I'm not.” Sam sounded just the slightest bit smug.

“Whatever. How do we stop it?” 

“We gank the ghost that started all this. We do that, the disease should clear up.”

“Are you thinking Frank's wife?” Dean asked.

Sam shrugged again. “Who knows why she killed herself, you know?”

The conversation dwindled off for a few minutes before Sam realized something. 

“Hey, what are you doing waiting out here, anyway?”

Dean looked at the hotel. “Our room's on the fourth floor. It's high.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “I'll see if I can move us down to the first.” He started walking back towards the lobby. I stayed with Dean in the car. 

\-----------------

Sam had managed to get us a new room on the first floor. I was in the middle of a lore book when I hear glass shattering. I looked up to see the room’s clock broken on the ground, with Dean standing over it. 

I raised an eyebrow. “Everything all right?” 

“Oh, yeah. Just peachy.” Dean went to the fridge and opened a beer.

Before I could get any more form him, Sam can back. 

“Find anything,” Dean asked before I could press him about the clock. 

Sam noticed the clock but didn’t say anything. “Yeah. Jessie O'Brian's body was cremated. So I'm pretty sure she is not our ghost.”

Dean scratched at his arm. Sam noticed.

“Hey. Quit picking at that.”

I got up and pulled out a roll of bandages. I moved by Dean and wrapped his arm as he and Sam continued their conversation.

“How are you feeling?” Sam had taken a seat as well.

“Awesome. Nice to have my head on the chopping block. I almost forgot what that feels like. It's freaking delightful.”

I had to hold down Dean’s arm. He liked to talk with his hands, but I managed to finish up with his arm. 

“We'll keep looking.” Sam tried to reassure Dean.

Dean went to answer but started to cough violently. I tried to help him as best I could. 

“Are you okay? Hey. Dean? Dean.” Sam was concerned as well. 

Dean rushed to the sink and spit out what looked to be a wood chip. 

“What the-?”

Sam looked at Dean. I could practically see the light-bulb over his head. 

“Hey. We've been completely ignoring the biggest clue we have: You.”

“I don't want to be a clue.” Dean sounded like a toddler.

“The abrasions, this. The disease, it's trying to tell us something.” Sam rushed to his laptop.

“Tell us what, wood chips? - Heh.” Dean didn’t understand.

\-------------------

We passed a sign that read: Casey and Sons Lumber Mill. Sam had looked it up as the closest mill to the town. 

We got out of the car and Sam started to dig around in the trunk for supplies. 

Dean took one look at the place and said, “I'm not going in there.”

Sam rolled his eyes, again. “Fine, stay out here then.”

He handed me a flashlight and I took out my hand-gun, then we proceeded into the mill. 

I liked my gun. It was a gift from Bobby after I had completed his hunter training. It was the same model as the boys, but my grip was inlayed with burl wood. 

We were only into the first room when Sam spotted something on the floor. He picked it up and I shined my light on it to reveal- 

"To Frank, Love Jessie." Frank O'Brian's ring.” Sam read the inscription.

“What in the world was Frank doing here?” I swept the floor with my light, looking for more clues.

“ No idea.” Sam shrugged and moved forward. 

We made our way into what looked like the workers’ locker-room. There were cobwebs everywhere and a thick coat of dust. 

Sam and I riffled through each locker, but Sam was the first to turn up anything. It was an ID badge for Luther Garland.

I found a hand-drawn picture of a woman. “Hey, this is Frank's wife. The plot thickens.”

“Yeah, but into what?” 

I didn’t have time to answer as the machines in the mill started to move. 

We looked around and my light fell onto a man in the corner of the room. Sam turned towards where I pointed. 

The figure turned around to reveal that it was Luther Garland and that he was a ghost.

“Hey. I guess we got the right place.” I snarked. 

Luther didn’t seem to like that and started towards us. Sam dispersed him with one round from his shotgun.

After that, we got out of there and to the car. Dean was waiting for us.

“Did you find anything?”

Sam showed him Luther Garland’s ID and told him about the ghost. We decided to see if there was a file on Garland at the sheriff’s office.

\------------------

“This is the Garland file.” The deputy handed over a thin file. 

“Thanks.” Sam took it and started looking it over. 

“Ahem. Is he drunk?” The deputy looked at Dean, who was looking around absently. 

“ No.” I shook my head but didn’t elaborate. Sometimes, leaving details out was a good thing. 

Sam grabbed his attention before he could ask another question. “Deputy, according to this, Luther Garland's cause of death was physical trauma. Now, what does that mean?”

“ Guy died 20 years ago. Before my time. Sorry.” The deputy didn’t look like he cared for the question, but we couldn’t call him out on it. 

“Then can we talk to the sheriff?” Sam was hoping the Sheriff would be more willing to talk.

The deputy glanced towards the office door, before saying, “Um, He's out sick today.” 

“Well, if you see him will you have him call us? We're staying at the Bluebird.” Sam gave the man a fake card. “Mind if I take this?” He held up the file, and the deputy nodded.

Sam made for the door and I followed him. I had to drag Dean out of there, as he was still out of it. 

\-------------------

Sam and I were walking down a hall in a retirement home. Dean had opted to stay in the motel room. It was rather quiet as it was late in the day, but we had been directed to one of the activity halls to look for our witness. We found him sitting in the empty hall, with a cold cup of coffee in front of him. 

“Mr. Garland? Hi. I'm Agent Tyler, and this is Agent Kirk, FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your brother, Luther.”

“Let me see some ID.” 

“Certainly.”

We handed him our badges. Mr. Garland took long looks at each of them before handing them back. 

“What do you want to know?”

We both sat across from the old man as Sam set Luthor Garland’s file down on the table. “Uh. Well, according to this, your brother, Luther, died of physical trauma.” 

Mr. Garland scoffed. 

“You don't agree?”

“ No, I don't.”

“Well, then what would you call it,” Sam probed. 

“ Don't matter what an old man thinks.” Mr. Garland sounded sad.

“Mr. Garland, we're just trying to get the truth on your brother. Please.”

Something in Sam’s voice got Mr. Garland to open up. 

He sighed. “Everybody was scared of Luther. They called him a monster. He was too big, too mean looking. Just too different. It didn’t matter that he was the kindest man I ever knew. It didn’t matter he'd never hurt anyone. A lot of people failed Luther, I was one of them. I was a widower with three young ones and I told myself there was nothing I could do.”

Sam held out a picture of O’Brian. “Mr. Garland. Do you recognize this woman?”

Mr. Garland nodded. “ That's Jessie O'Brian. Her man, Frank, killed Luther.”

Sam and I shared glances. 

“How do you know that?” I asked. 

He shrugged. “Everybody knows. They just don't talk about it. Jessie was a receptionist at the mill. She was always really nice to Luther, and he had a crush on her. But Frank didn't like it. Then when Jessie went missing Frank was sure that Luther had done something to her. Turns out the old gal killed herself, but Frank didn't know that. They found Luther with a chain wrapped around his neck. He was dragged up and down the stretch outside that plant ‘till he was past dead.”

“And O'Brian was never arrested?” Sam didn’t like that a murderer was never dealt with. 

“I screamed at every cop in town. They wouldn't look into Frank. He was a pillar of the community. My brother was just the town freak.” Mr. Garland shook his head. 

“You must have hated Frank O'Brian.” I tried to get Mr. Garland to talk more about Frank, to see if he would reveal anything to us. 

“I did for a long time, but, heh, life's too short for hate, girl. Frank wasn't thinking straight.  
His wife had vanished, he was terrified. A damn shame he had to put Luther through the same but that's fear. It spreads and spreads.” 

At that last sentence, Sam looked like he had realized something. We said our good-byes, then left the retirement home. We went back to the hotel room. 

\------------------- 

“Now I know what these are: Road rash.”

Sam had just finished filling Dean in on what we had discovered. 

“And I'm guessing Luther swallowed some wood chips when he was being dragged down that road. It makes sense. You're experiencing his death in slow motion.”

Dean huffed. “Yeah, well, not slow enough. I say we burn some bones and get me healthy.”

Sam shook his head. “Dean, it won't be that easy.”

“No, no, it'll be that easy. Why won't it be that easy?” Dean didn’t want to hear it, but Sam explained. 

“ Luther was road-hauled. His body was ripped to pieces. He was probably scattered all over that road. There's no way we're gonna find all the remains.”

“You're kidding me.” 

I could tell that Dean’s infected brain was reaching its limit. 

“Look, we'll just have to figure something else out.” Sam tried to calm his brother, but it didn’t work. 

“You know what? Screw this.” Dean stood up and started pacing. 

“Whoa, whoa, Dean, come on -” I could see Sam’s worry in his eyes.

“No, I mean, come on, Sam. What are we doing?”

“We're hunting a ghost.” Sam didn’t understand Dean’s question. 

“A Ghost, exactly. Who does that?” Dean was sounding more and more scared. 

“Us.” Sam pointed out. 

That set Dean off on a rant. “Us. Right. And that, Sam, that is exactly why our lives suck. I mean, come on, we hunt monsters. What the hell? I mean, normal people, they see a monster, and they run. But not us, no. We search out things that want to kill us. Huh? Huh? Or eat us. Do you know who does that? Crazy people. We are insane. 

And then there's the bad diner food, and then skeevy motel rooms and the truck-stop waitress with the bizarre rash. I mean, who wants this life, Sam, huh? Seriously? Do you actually like being stuck in a car with me 8 hours a day, every single day? I don't think so. I drive too fast, I listen to the same five albums over and over again, and I sing along. I'm annoying, I know that. And you, you're gassy. You eat half a burrito and you get toxic. I mean You know what? - You can forget it.”

Dean made for the door, and Sam and I followed him. 

“Dean, where are you going?”

Dean batted away Sam’s arm on his shoulders. “ Stay away from me, Sam, okay? Because I am done with it. I'm done with the monsters and the hellhounds, and the ghost sickness and the damn Apocalypse. I'm out. I'm done. I quit.”

He stormed out the door. I held Sam back. 

“I’ll follow him. I’ll call you when he stops.” I cloaked. 

Sam frowned but nodded. I made my way into the air and started to follow Dean. 

\----------------------

Dean ended up in a park, sitting on a bench. It was night, and he looked terrified. I called Sam and told him where Dean and I were. I stayed cloaked, though, until Sam arrived and we went towards Dean together. 

  
Dean looked up as we approached.

“We looked everywhere for you, Dean. How the hell did you get here?” Sam sat next to Dean on the bench. I stood and kept watch, not that the boys noticed. 

“ Ran. What do we do now? I mean, I got less than four hours on the clock. I'm gonna die, Sammy.” Dean was panting. 

He had a far off look on his face before he violently stood up and tried to rush Sam. Before he could do anything, Dean reversed and his back hit the side of the park bathroom wall. Sam and I rushed towards him. Dean started choking. 

“Hey, hey, hey, Dean. Hey, Dean. Dean. Dean.” Sam managed to snap him out of it. 

We managed to maneuver a still shocked Dean into the Impala, and back to the hotel room. 

\-------------------- 

“Howdy, Sam.”

At the request of Sam, Bobby had driven over to help us. He met Sam and me at an abandoned quarry on the outskirts of town, with Dean safely in our hotel room. 

“Hey, Bobby. Thanks for coming up so quick.” Sam shaded his eyes from the mid-morning sun as Bobby got out of the car. 

I hugged Bobby as he came around the Impala. 

Bobby looked around. “Where's Dean?”

“ Uh Heh. Home, sick.” Sam took a seat on the hood of the Impala. Bobby and I followed suit, with me in between the two men. 

“So have his hallucinations started yet?” Bobby got down to business. 

“Yeah, a few hours ago.” I recounted Dean’s actions in the park. 

“How are we doing on time?”

“ We saw the coroner at about 8 a.m. Monday morning.” Sam checked his watch. “So just under two hours. What about you? Did you find anything?”

Bobby nodded and pulled out a book. “ This encyclopedia of spirits dates to the Edo period.”

Sam took the small book and opened it. It was written in Japanese. “You can read Japanese?”

Bobby rattled off a sentence in Japanese.

“ I guess so. Showoff.”

Bobby waved him off. “Anyway, this book lists a kind of ghost that could be our guy. It infects people with fear. It's called a Buru Buru.”

“ Does it say how to kill it?”

“Same as usual, burn the remains.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Wonderful. Is there a plan B?”

Bobby shrugged. “Well, the Buru Buru is born of fear. Hell, it is fear. And the lore says you can kill it with fear.”

“So we have to scare a ghost to death?” Sam was a little incredulous. 

“Pretty much.” 

“How the hell are we gonna do that?” Sam stood up. 

\------------------------

“Hey. Hey. So just ride out the trip, okay? You're gonna be fine. We got a plan…. Just a good plan, all right? Now, hang in there.” 

Sam ended his call with Dean. 

As soon as he was done, Bobby commented. “This is a terrible plan.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“I know I said to scare the ghost to death, but this?” Bobby motioned to our supplies. 

Sam threw his hands out. “Hey, you got a better idea, I'm listening.”

We all entered the mill, guns at the ready. We split up and started searching rooms, looking for any sign of Luther. 

“ Any luck?” Bobby asked over a walkie-talkie. 

“I don't know what's wrong, Bobby. Last time he came right at us. It's almost like he's scared.”

I was scanning the room as Sam talked, keeping a lookout. 

“So now what?”

“ I guess we gotta make him angry.” I sent a glance at Sam. 

He started to call out. 

“Hey, Luther. Come on, Luther. Where the hell are you? What are you waiting for?”

Sam was ripping up the drawings of Jessie O’Brian. He had set down his gun, but I kept mine at the ready.

It seemed to do the trick, as all the machinery started to move. 

“Sam!” 

Luthor had appeared in the middle of the room. Sam whipped around. Before we could do anything, we were knocked own with a blast of power from Luthor. We both tried to scrabble for our guns, which had been knocked away. 

Luther caught Sam’s leg and dragged him closer. Luther started to kick him around. In the meantime, I managed to grab the chain that we had placed. I scrambled up and wrapped the chain securely around Luther’s neck. 

“Bobby, punch it,” Sam called. 

The Impala’s engine roared to life outside, and the chain started to be pulled under the swinging doors. Luther was pulled with it. 

Sam and I rushed through the doors to watch. After about one hundred yards, Luther started to disintegrate. In a few seconds, the ghost was no more. 

\-----------------  
  
“So you guys road-hauled a ghost with a chain?”

Dean was back to normal. We were all at the quarry again. 

“Iron chain etched with spellwork.”

Dean handed Sam a beer and me a soda. “Hmm. Well, that's a new one.”

“That's what he was most afraid of. It was pretty brutal though.” Sam held the bottle out to me. I rolled my eyes, but held a hand over the cap and popped it open. 

“On the upside, I'm still alive, so go, team.” I did the same thing to Dean’s bottle. 

“How are you feeling, by the way?” Sam glanced at Dean. 

“- Fine.” Dean shrugged, not understanding the reason for the question. 

“You're sure, Dean? Because this line of work can get awful scary.”

We had told Bobby about Dean’s rant.

Dean realized that. “I'm fine. What, you wanna go hunt? I'll hunt. I'll kill anything.”

“Aww. - He's adorable.” I pretended to pinch Dean’s cheek. Sam and Bobby chuckled.

Dean batted my hands away. “Ha-ha-ha. Whatever.”

Bobby pushed off from leaning on his car. “Well, I gotta get out here. You boys drive safe.”

We waved. “You too, Bobby.”

Bobby drove away.

Sam turned to Dean. “ So, what did you see? Near the end, I mean?”

“Well, besides a cop beating my ass?” Dean had told us about the sheriff’s visit. 

Sam rolled his eyes. “Seriously.”

“ Howler monkeys. The whole room full of them. Those things creep the hell out of me.”

“Right.”

Dean tried to reassure his brother. “No, just the usual stuff, Sammy. Nothing I couldn't handle.”He took another swig from his beer. 

That ended the conversation, and we got into Baby and drove off. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“Now, how many razor blades did they find?”

Sam, Dean, and I had found a case involving a person eating razors in candy. We were questioning the victim’s husband. 

“Two on the floor, one in his stomach and one was stuck in his throat. He swallowed four of them. How is that even possible?” She looked over at Dean and frowned. “The candy was never in the oven.”

He had been looking for hex bags, but the lady didn’t know that. “We just have to be thorough, Mrs. Wallace.” Dean soothed the distraught woman. 

“Did police find razors in the rest of the candy,” Sam questioned. 

She shook her head. “No. I mean, I don't know. I don't think so. I just can't believe it. You hear urban legends about this stuff, but it actually happens?”

I nodded. “ \More than you might imagine.”

While we had been talking, Dean had found a hex bag. He held it up behind Mrs. Wallace’s back for us to see.

Sam restarted the questioning. “Mrs. Wallace, did Luke have any enemies?”

“ Enemies?” Mrs. Wallace repeated. 

Sam nodded. “Anyone who might've held a grudge?”

“ What do you mean?”

“Coworkers, neighbors. Maybe a woman.” I rattled off a list. 

Mrs. Wallace got offended. “Are you suggesting an affair?”

“Is it possible?” Sam replied. 

“No. No, Luke would never- “ She started getting defensive. 

I held my hands up slightly. “I'm very sorry. We just have to consider all possibilities.”

“If someone wanted to kill my husband, don't you think they'd find a better way than a razor in a piece of candy he might eat?”

We could tell that Mrs. Wallace was starting to not want us there, so we made our excuses and left the lady’s home.   
\-----------

We were all back at the motel, looking through books and the internet for any lore that could tell us what was going on. 

“Really? After that guy choked down all those razor blades?”

Sam shook his head at Dean, who was eating a chocolate bar. 

Dean shrugged. “It's Halloween, man.”

“Yeah. For us, every day is Halloween,” Sam huffed. 

Dean thew the wrapper at Sam. “Don't be a downer.”

“Anything interesting, Sam ?” I looked up from my lore book. 

“ Well, we're on a witch-hunt, that's for sure, but this isn't your typical hex bag.”

Sam had the hex bag open on the motel desk. 

“No?” Dean came over to the table. 

Sam started picking up parts from the bag. “Goldthread. An herb that's been extinct for 200 years. And this coin is Celtic. And I don't mean some New-Age knockoff. It looks like the real deal, like 600-years-old real. And that is the charred metacarpal bone of a newborn baby.”

Dean had been touching said bone but dropped it at Sam’s words. 

“Oh. Gross.” He wiped his hand on his jeans.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Relax, man. It's at least a hundred years old.”

“Oh, right, like that makes it better. Witches, man, so frigging skeevy.”

“Yeah. Well, it takes a pretty powerful one to put a bag like this together. More juice than we've ever dealt with. Find anything on the victim?”

Dean shook his head. “ This Luke Wallace, he was so vanilla, that he made vanilla seem spicy. I can't find any reason why somebody would want this guy dead.”

\---------------------

There had been another death. It happened at a party. A girl had died bobbing for apples. Sam, Dean, and I were still posing as agents. 

When we got to the crime scene, there was a college girl speaking to a police officer. Dean stopped Sam and me. 

“I got this one.” 

I looked over at where Dean was looking. “Two words: Jail, bait.”

“I would never,” Dean replied with mock severity. 

Dean went over to the girl, while Sam and I started looking for hex bags. Sam found one and showed it to Dean. 

\----------------------

“I'm telling you, both of these victims are clean. There is no reason for wicked-bitch payback.”

We were back at the motel again, and Dean was trying to look up any connection between the two victims. 

“Maybe because it's not about that.” Sam was looking around in a lore book. 

Dean looked up. “Wow, insightful.” 

“Maybe this witch isn't working a grudge. Maybe they're working a spell. Check this out:” Sam pointed at a passage. "Three blood sacrifices over three days. The last before midnight on the final day of the final harvest. Celtic calendar, the final day of the final harvest is October 31st.”

“Halloween.” 

“Exactly.”

“What exactly are the blood sacrifices for?” Dean closed the laptop. 

I closed my book and stood behind Dean to take a look as well. 

Sam flipped a page. “ Well, if I'm right, this witch is summoning a demon. And not just any demon. Samhain.”

“Am I supposed to be impressed?”

I took over the explanation. “Samhain is the origin of Halloween. The Celts believed that October 31 st was when the veil was thinnest between the living and dead. It was Samhain's night. Masks were put on to hide from him. Sweets left on doorsteps to appease him. Faces carved into pumpkins to worship him. He was exorcised centuries ago.”

Dean pieced things together. “Samhain took a trip downstairs, the traditions stuck.”

Sam nodded. “Exactly. Only now, instead of demons and blood orgies, Halloween is all about kids, candy, and costumes.”

“Okay, so some witch wants to raise Samhain and take back the night?” Dean shrugged. 

Sam shot him a look. “Dean, this is serious.”

“I am serious.” Dean opened another chocolate bar. 

“ We're talking heavyweight witchcraft. This can only be performed every 600 years. And the 600-year marker rolls around-”

“ - Tomorrow night.” I finished. 

“Naturally. Sure is a lot of death for one demon,” Dean pointed out. 

“Because he likes company. Once he's raised, Samhain can do some raising of his own.”

“Raising what, exactly?”

“Dark, evil crap, and lots of it. They follow him around like the pied piper.” Sam pointed to a picture in the book. It depicted a monstrous being with bull horns, standing over a grave with a body crawling out. 

“We're talking ghosts? Zombies? Leprechauns?”

Sam and I shot questioning looks at Dean. He held his hands up. 

“Those little dudes are scary. Small hands.”

Sam rolled his eyes again and looked back at the book. “Look, it just starts with ghosts and ghouls. This sucker keeps going. By night's end, we are talking every awful thing we've ever seen. Everything we fight. All in one place. It's gonna be a slaughterhouse.”

We all shared knowing looks. 

\-----------------

“Hey. How's it going?” 

Dean and I were in Baby in front of Mrs. Wallace’s house. Sam had stayed behind at the motel to keep researching. Dean put the phone on speaker. 

“ Awesome.”

“Yeah,” Dean huffed. “I talked to Mrs. Razor Blade again. We've been in front of her house for hours and I've got a big steamy pile of nothing.”

“Someone planted those hex bags, someone with access to both houses. There’s gotta be some connection.” 

“I hope we find it because I'm starting to cramp like a- son of a bitch.” Dean had looked out the window to see the cheerleader from that morning walk up the Wallaces’ front steps. Mrs. Wallace opened the front door and handed off her son. 

“Quit whining.” Sam though Dean was just cursing his stomach. 

“No, Sam, I mean, son of a bitch.” 

“What?” 

Dean described what we had seen. “We’re coming back to the motel. Be there in ten.”

With that, Dean threw Baby into gear and took off. 

\-------------------------

“Hey.” 

Dean and I walked into the room. I dropped my bag and flopped onto a bed. Even with my enhanced body, sitting in Baby for hours did nothing for one’s limberness.

“Hi. So?” Sam was on his bed, still in his books. 

“Our apple-bobbing cheerleader? Tracy. Wallace's babysitter.” Dean reported. “She told me she'd never even heard of Luke Wallace.”

“Interesting look for a centuries-old witch,” Sam commented. 

“If you were a 600-year-old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader,” I posed.

“I would.” Dean pipped up. 

Sam gave his brother a weird look for that, but he continued giving us an update. 

“Mm. Well, Tracy's not as wholesome as she looks. Did some digging. Apparently, she got into a violent altercation with one of her teachers. She got suspended from school.”

With that information, we decided to go to Tracy’s school to see what had happened. 

\-----------------------

“Bring back memories?” Sam asked Dean. We were in the school’s art room. Masks of all types, some pretty scary, were hanging from the walls and ceiling. 

“What do you mean?” Dean turned to his brother. I was looking at the masks, but could still hear them. 

“Being a teenager, all that angst.”

“Oh.”

“What'd you think I meant?”

“Nothing.”

“Now, that brings back memories.”

I looked over to where Dean was looking, A boy was trying to place a very tall vase into the classroom kiln. It wouldn’t fit. 

“Dude, I need a bigger kiln.” The boy commented. 

“You gentlemen wanted to talk to me?”

All three of us turned at the voice. The art teacher entered the room, with a box in his hands. 

“ Mr. Harding.” Sam held his hand out for a handshake. 

“Oh, please, Don.” Don shifted the box around to return the greeting. 

“Okay. Don.”

“Even my students call me Don.” The man shook Dean and my hands then moved past us into his office. 

We all took seats, then got down to business. 

“I'm Agent Geddy. This is Agent Lee and Agent Reid. We just had a few questions about Tracy Davis.”

Don recognized her. “Yeah, Tracy. Bright kid, loads of talent. It's a shame she got suspended.”

I probed. “You two had a violent altercation?”

“ Yeah, she exploded. If Principal Morrow hadn't walked by when he did, Tracy would've clawed my eyes out.” Don huffed. 

“Why?”

“I was only trying to rap with her about her work. It had gotten inappropriate and disturbing.” The teacher shrugged, he looked slightly apologetic. 

“More disturbing than those guys?” Dean motioned to some of the more gruesome masks on the wall. 

Don chuckled, but I could tell he didn’t actually find it funny. “She would cover page after page with these bizarre, cryptic symbols. And then there were the drawings. Detailed images of killings. Gory, primitive. She would depict herself in the middle of them, participating.”

“Symbols? What kind of symbols?” That had piqued Sam’s interest. He pulled out the Celtic coin. “Anything like this?”

Don took it to get a closer look. “Yeah. I think that might've been one of them.”

“Know where Tracy is now?” Dean shared a look with Sam and me. It was his, ‘ they’re the one’ look. 

“ I imagine in her apartment,” Don answered us with a shrug. 

“Her apartment?”

“ Yeah. She got here about a year ago, alone. As I understood it, as an emancipated teen.  
God only knows what her parents were like.” The teacher looked sorry for the girl. 

\---------------------

We met back up outside of the motel.

“So?”

Sam shook his head. “Tracy was nowhere I could find. Any luck with her friends?”

“Luck is not our style. Friends don't know where she is,” Dean replied. 

“She could be making the third sacrifice.” Sam posed.

“Yes, thank you, Sam.” Dean opened the door to our room. 

Sam was the first in, and immediately pulled his gun on the two men already inside. 

“Who are you?!”

Dean put a hand on Sam’s gun and pulled it down. “ Sam. Sam, wait! That's Castiel. The angel.” Dean motioned to the other man. “Him, I don't know.”

I did, but it wasn’t my place to say anything. I kept quiet. 

“Hello, Sam.” 

Sam immediately got flustered. He was always the more religious of the two brothers. “Oh, my God. Or, uh I didn't mean to- Sorry. It's an honor. Really. I've heard a lot about you.”

Castiel inclined his head at Sam. “And I, you. Sam Winchester, the boy with the demon blood. Glad to hear you've ceased your extracurricular activities.”  
  
“Let's keep it that way,” The other man, who was standing by the window, added. 

  
Sam’s face fell. Dean didn’t like the subtle insult at his brother. 

“Yeah, okay, Chuckles. Who's your friend?”

Cas ignored Dean’s question, asking one of his own. “This raising of Samhain, have you stopped it?”

“ Why?” Sam was more guarded then. 

Castiel ignored him as well. “Dean, have you located the witch?”

“Yes, we've located the witch,” Dean answered. 

“And is the witch dead,” Castiel pressed. 

Dean shook his head. “ No, but - we know who it is.”

“Apparently, the witch knows who you are too.” Cas pulled out a large hex bag out of his pocket. “This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, surely one or all of you would be dead. Do you know where the witch is now?”

“We're working on it.” Dean was getting irritated at the barrage of questions. 

Castiel sighed, looking resigned. “That's unfortunate.”

“What do you care?” Sam asked.

I answered him. “The raising of Samhain is one of the 66 seals.”

“You didn’t feel like telling us this earlier?” 

Dean turned back to the angels. “So this is about your buddy Lucifer?”

“Lucifer is no friend of ours.” Both beings looked offended at that. 

Dean waved it off. “It's just an expression.”

Castiel was not amused. “Lucifer cannot rise. The breaking of the seal must be prevented at all costs.”

Dean moved closer. “Okay, great. Now that you're here, tell us where the witch is. We'll gank her.”

Uriel shook his head. “We are not omniscient. This witch is very powerful. She's cloaked even our methods.”

“Okay, we already know who she is. So, if we work together-”

“ Enough.”Uriel cut Dean off. Dean wasn’t pleased. He rounded on Uriel.

“Okay, who are you and why should I care?”

Castiel introduced his companion. “ This is Uriel. He's what you might call a specialist.” Cas didn’t look particularly happy.

“What kind of specialist? What are you gonna do?” Sam questioned. The angels didn’t answer.

“ You, all of you, need to leave this town immediately.” 

“Why?”

“ Because we're about to destroy it.”

The brothers were silent at that revelation, then Dean exploded. 

“This is your plan? You're gonna smite the whole town?”

Castiel was grave. “ We're out of time. This witch has to die. The seal must be saved.”

“There are a thousand people here.”

“One thousand two hundred fourteen.” Uriel corrected Sam. 

“And you're willing to kill them all?”

“This isn't the first time I've purified a city.” Uriel was as calm as you please. 

Castiel tried to be a little more gentle. “Look, I understand, this is regrettable.”

“Regrettable?”

“We have to hold the line. Too many seals have broken already.”

“And now this town has to pay the price?” Sam had approached the angels as well. 

“It's the lives of 1000 against the lives of 6 billion. There's a bigger picture here.” 

“Right. Because you're "bigger picture" kind of guys,” Dean huffed. 

Uriel was getting irritated at Dean’s defiance. “Lucifer cannot rise. He does, and hell rises with him. Is that something that you're willing to risk?”

Sam tried to reason with them. “We'll stop this witch before she summons anyone. Your seal won't be broken and no one has to die.”

“We're wasting time with these mud monkeys.” Uriel addressed Castiel. 

“I'm sorry, but we have our orders.” Cas sent an apologetic glance at the boys. 

Sam shook his head. “No, you can't do this. You're angels. I mean, aren't you supposed to You're supposed to show mercy.

“Says who? - We have no choice.” Uriel replied. 

Dean threw his hands out. “Of course, you have a choice. I mean, come on. What, you've never questioned a crap order, huh? Are you just a couple of hammers?”

“Look, even if you can't understand it, have faith. The plan is just.” Castiel was stone-faced. 

“How could you even say that?” I could see Sam’s faith fracturing. 

Uriel’s reply was confident. “ Because it comes from heaven. That makes it just.” 

“Well, it must be nice to be so sure of yourselves,” Dean said with no little amount of sarcasm. 

Uriel turned to him. “Tell me something, Dean. When your father gave you orders didn't you obey?”

Dean clenched his fist at the mention of his father. 

“Well, sorry, boys. Looks like the plans have changed.”

“You think you can stop us?” Uriel sounded almost amused at the notion. 

Dean shook his head. “No. But if you're gonna smite this whole town then you're gonna have to smite us with it because we are not leaving. You went to the trouble of busting me out of hell I figure I'm worth something to the man upstairs. You wanna waste me? Go ahead. See how he digs that.”

“I'm gonna drag you out of here myself.” Uriel made a move towards Dean. 

Dean took a step back, and I pulled one of my long knives. “But you'll have to kill me. Then we're back to the same problem. I mean, come on. You're gonna wipe out a whole town for one little witch? Sounds to me like you're compensating for something.”

Sam tried to cool the tension in the room. “We can do this. We will find that witch and we will stop the summoning.”

“Castiel, I will not let these -”

Castiel cut his companion off. “ Enough. I suggest you move quickly.” 

At that, he and Uriel left. Sam had a forlorn look on his face. 

“What?” Dean had noticed it too. 

“ Nothing. I thought they'd be different.”

“Who? The angels?” Dean pointed at where they had stood. 

“Yeah.” Sam nodded. 

“I tried to tell you.” Dean shrugged. 

Sam sat on one of the beds. “I just- I mean, I thought they'd be righteous.”

I sat next to him. Dean stayed standing. 

He shrugged. “Well, they are righteous. I mean, that's kind of the problem. There's nothing more dangerous than some A-hole who thinks he's on a holy mission.”

Sam cut him off. “But, I mean, this is God and heaven? And this is what I've been praying to?”

Dean took a seat on the bed across from Sam. I sat next to Sam. “ Look, man, I know you're into the whole God thing. You know, Jesus on a tortilla, and stuff like that. Just because there are bad apples doesn't mean the whole barrel's rotten. I mean, for all we know, God hates these jerks. Don't give up on this stuff, is all I'm saying. Babe Ruth was a dick, but baseball's still a beautiful game.”

“You gonna figure out a way to find this witch or sit there fingering your bone?”

During the conversation, Sam had gone back to the hex bag and picked up the baby’s bone. 

Sam looked contemplative. “Do you know how much heat it would take to char a bone like this, Dean?”

“No.”

“A lot. I mean, more than a fire or some kitchen oven.”

“Okay, Betty Crocker, what does that mean?”

“It means we make a stop.”

\---------------

“So Tracy used the kiln to char the bone. What's the big deal?”

We were back at the school, and the art room. Don wasn’t there, so the room was empty. 

“ Dean, that hex bag turned up in our room not after we talked to Tracy. After we talked to the teacher.” Sam was rifling through Don’s desk. 

“Hey.” Sam found a padlock on one of the desk drawers. 

I held a hand over the lock and, after a second, it popped open. Inside, there was a clay bowl, and in it were several bones. Sam took a closer look. 

“My God. Those are all from children.”

“And I'm guessing he's not saving them for the dog.” Dean snarked. 

\----------------------

It was later that night and Sam, Dean, and I had gotten to Don’s house to try and find him. Trick-or-treaters were walking around in the streets. 

When we entered the house, I could hear muffled yelling coming from the basement. I led the boys down, gun in hand. Don was performing a ritual. Tracy was tied up in front of him. He was just about to send a knife through her throat.

Dean shot Don before he could kill the girl. Sam cut the girl down. 

She pulled off her gag. “He was gonna kill me.” Ugh! That sick son of a bitch. I mean, did you see what he was doing? Did you hear him?... How sloppy his incantation was? My brother always was a little dim.”

We all looked back up at her at that. Dean and Sam tried to pull out their guns again, but ‘Tracy’ shouted in latin and threw us back, forcing the boys to drop their weapons. My stomach started to writhe in pain, so I was unable to get up. I looked over at Sam and Dean. They weren’t fairing any better. 

She continued. “ He was gonna make me the final sacrifice. His idea. But now that honor goes to him. Our master's return? The spellwork's a two-man job, you understand? So for 600 years, I had to deal with that pompous son of a bitch. Planning, preparing. Unbearable. The whole time, I wanted to rip his face off. “ 

She started collecting ‘Don’s’ blood in a chalice, then walked over to the ritual table. 

“Then you get him with a gun. I love that. You know, back in the day this was the one night you kept your children inside. Well, tonight you'll all see what Halloween really is.”

The witch started to chant. She didn’t pay attention to us. Sam started to move towards Don’s body and dipped his hands in the forming pool of blood. He started smearing it over his face.

“What are you doing?” Dean questioned him. 

“ Just follow my lead.” Sam gasped. 

Dean didn’t understand but started to smear blood on his face anyways. I caught on to what Sam was attempting. I really didn’t want to smear another person’s blood over my face, so I willed my clothes to form a nice ski mask. I pulled it over my head just as the witch was finishing up. 

The ground fractured and black smoke came rushing out. It funneled into Don’s body. The thing stood up and approached ‘Tracy.’

“My love. You've aged.” He greeted. He placed his hands on either side of her face and pulled her in for a kiss. 

“This face. I can't fool you.” I could hear the utter adoration in her voice. 

“Your beauty is beyond time.” Samhain held her close, before breaking her neck. “Whore.”

He walked away and passed right by us, but his eyes slid over us. He left the building. 

Dean picked his head up after he was gone. “What the hell was that?” 

Sam helped me up. The witch’s spell had broken with her death. “ Halloween lore. People use to wear masks to hide from him. So I gave it a shot.”

“You gave it a shot?” Dean’s eyebrows rose. 

Sam gave him a look.   
\------------------

We made our way outside and got back to Baby. I pulled a couple of rags out for the boys to clean their faces with. 

“ Where are we gonna find this mook?” Dean asked as we got into the Impala. 

“ Where would you go to raise all the dark forces of the night?” Sam posed.

“ The cemetery,” I replied.

Dean turned the Impala on and sped off. 

“So this demon's pretty powerful. Might take more than the usual weapons,” Sam started.

Both Dean and I understood what he was implying. “Sam, no. You're not using your psychic whatever.”

“But-”

Dean cut his brother off. “Ruby's knife and Jade’s blades are enough.”

During previous hunts, we had discovered that my vibranium blades could kill just about anything. I pulled them out and secured them in a sheath that formed on my back. 

“Why?”

“Because the angels said so, for one.” Dean really didn’t want to be having the conversation. 

“You said they were fanatics.” Sam pointed out. 

“They happen to be right about this.” Dean’s hands clenched on the steering wheel. 

“I don't know, Dean. Doesn’t seem like they’re right about much. ”

Dean made a “stop it’ motion with his hand. “Forget the angels. You said yourself, these powers, it's like playing with fire. Please.”

Dean handed Sam the demon knife, and Sam dropped the topic. 

\--------------------------

“Did he lock it?”

We had found a group of teenagers locked in a crypt. They looked like they had been having a party.

“Help them,” Sam called to Dean and me.

Dean tried to protest, but Sam ran off. The crypt walls were shaking with power.

“Stand back! Stand back!” Dean yelled to the kids. He raised his gun to shoot the lock. The kids came surging out. 

“ Come on, come on. Get out. Move!” Dean tried to get them out as fast as he could. 

I spotted the zombies crawling out of the walls at the same time Dean did. 

“Bring it on, Stinky.” He said as he held out a metal spike. I pulled both my long knives. 

We managed to stake and decapitate every zombie that came at us. As Dean staked the last one, I could hear heels clicking behind us. We both turned around to see an obviously dead lady. Dean tried to stab her, but she turned out to be a ghost. 

“Zombie-ghost orgy, huh?” Dean snarked. 

The ghost threw him across the room. I dispelled her with one of my blades. “Well, that's it. I'm torching everybody.”

After Dean and I had made it out, I used the broken doors to hold all the zombies inside, then I sent a stream of fire to burn them. Dean ran to the car and came back with a can of salt. He threw it into the flames as well, to stop any ghosts. 

I warped the gates to jam them shut, then Dean and I raced to find his brother. I located him in a different crypt, and we arrived just in time to see Sam sending Samhain back to hell with his psychic powers. 

Sam looked up, panting, with blood dripping from his nose. Dean’s face was one of disappointment and betrayal.   
\-----------------------------

Dean and Sam had split up the morning after the rising of Samhain. Sam stayed at the motel to pack, and Dean went to the local park to ‘clear his head.’ I went with Dean.  
Castiel showed up about an hour after we did. 

“Let me guess. You're here for the ‘I told you so.’ Dean didn’t want to hear it. 

"No.” Cas didn’t elaborate. 

“Well, good, because I'm really not that interested.” Dean continued to watch the kids playing on the equipment. I didn’t comment, knowing that they needed to work it out themselves. 

“I'm not here to judge you, Dean.” Cas turned slightly on the bench. 

Dean stayed catching the kids. “Then why are you here?”

“Our orders -”

Dean cut him off and finally turned to the angel. “ Yeah, I've had enough of these orders.” 

Both Dean, and then Castiel, stood up. 

I held a hand against Dean’s chest to stop him from advancing on the angel. “Dean, let him speak.” 

Castiel nodded at me. “Our orders were not to stop the summoning of Samhain. They were to do whatever you told us to do.”

“Your orders were to follow my orders?” Dean’s eyebrow’s raised in disbelief.

“It was a test to see how you would perform under… battlefield conditions, you might say.”

Dean threw his hands out to his sides. “It was a witch, not the Tet Offensive. So, I failed your test, huh? I get it. But you know what? If you were to wave that magic time-traveling wand of yours and we had to do it all over again, I'd make the same call. 

I don't know what's gonna happen when these seals are broken. Hell, I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. But what I do know is that this here these kids, the swings, the trees all of it is still here because of Jade, my brother, and me.”

Cas held a placating hand out. “You misunderstand me, Dean. I'm not like you think. I was praying that you would choose to save the town.”

“You were?” Dean sent a look at Castiel. 

Cas nodded. “These people are all my father's creations. They are works of art. And yet, even though you stopped Samhain, the seal was broken. And we are one step closer to hell on Earth for all creation. And that's not an expression, Dean. It's literal. You, of all people, should appreciate what that means. Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell another soul?”

“ Okay.”

Castiel looked at his hands. “I'm not a hammer, as you say. I have questions. I have doubts. I don't know what is right and what is wrong anymore, whether you passed or failed here. But in the coming months, you will have more decisions to make. I don't envy the weight that's on your shoulders, Dean. I truly don't.”

With that, Cas flew away, winking out of the visible reality. Dean just sat back down to think. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Long chapter 
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“Come on, one more. Just give me a chance to win it back.” 

Dean, Sam, and I were at a crowded bar. I was sipping on a Sprite and watching the boys hustle pool. The man they were playing with was falling for Sam’s ‘drunk’ routine, hook, line, and sinker. 

“It's your cash.”

“Excuse me.” Dean cut in, pretending to hold Sam up. “ My brother's a little sauced to be making bets.”

“Hey, he insisted.” The other guy held his hands up. 

“You've already taken, what, two bills off him?” Sam smacked Dean. “I'm just saying.”

“Hey, shut up, Dean. I'm fine.” Sam’s voice was slurred. 

Dean shook his head. “No, you're not fine, you're drunk.”

“Let's make it 500.” Sam threw down the wad of cash. 

“Five hundred? Sure.” I could see the money symbols in the guy’s eyes. He set up the balls again. “Your break.”

Right before Sam hit the ball, he spotted someone in the crowd. I looked over and saw Ruby. She was the version that looked like Genevieve Cortese. 

Sam straightened up and walked away, throwing over his shoulder, “Keep the money.”

Dean sputtered. “Keep the money? But…” He caught sight of Ruby, then followed his brother, taking the cash off the table on the way. 

I got up to follow them, but before I could a man blocked my path. 

“Hey, little lady. You here alone?”

I could tell he was drunk, so I tried to let him down gently. “Yes, actually. I’m here with my friends.” I motioned over to Sam and Dean. 

The man looked over. “Seems like they’re busy. Why don’t you come with me? We could have a good time.” He stepped closer to me. I could smell the whiskey on his breath. 

I pushed my chair in to give me some more room. “No, thank you.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Come, on. Don’t be like that. I could make you feel real nice.”

I shoved his hand off me. “I said no.” 

“You know what, I don’t care now.” The man grabbed my wrist and started to try and drag me away.

I planted my feet. “This is is your last warning. Let go of me.”

He ignored me, so I grabbed his wrist, and in a practiced move, levered his arm up and smashed his head against a nearby table. The table broke and spilled all the drinks on it. Everyone in the bar looked up at the crash. Sam and Dean finished what the were discussing and came over. 

When the man straightened back up, his nose was broke. His friends rallied around him. 

One of the drunker ones motioned to Sam and Dean. “Hey. Keep your friend in check. She just broke my buddy’s nose.”

Dean walked forward as Sam placed his hands on my shoulders as a sign of unity. 

“Well, maybe you should teach your friend how to take no for an answer then. Come on, Jade” 

Dean headed for the door. I tossed a spare money clip, holding a couple hundred, at the bartended, “ Sorry for the mess,” before following him. 

\------------------------

“Can I get a copy of the Missing Person report? Great. Okay. Thanks.” Sam got off the phone. 

We were in Baby, on our way to the mental hospital where Anna Milton had been. The boys had filled me in earlier on what Ruby had told them. 

“Well, Anna Milton's definitely real,” Sam reported. 

“Don't mean the case is real.. This hospital's a three-day drive.” Dean’s eyes were set on the road. 

“We've driven further for less, Dean.” 

Sam and I could both see there was something running around Dean’s head. After a few seconds, Sam couldn’t take it anymore. 

“You got something to say, say it.”

The permission let Dean open the floodgates. “I'm saying it. This sucks.”

“You're not pissed we're after the girl. You're pissed Ruby threw us the tip.”

“Right. Far as you're concerned, the hell bitch is family. Something major must have happened while I was downstairs because I come back and you're BFF with a demon.” Dean was getting angrier and angrier. 

“I told you. She helped me go after Lilith.” I could tell Sam really didn’t want to talk about it. 

“Well, thanks for the thumbnail. Real vivid. You wanna fill in a little detail?” 

Dean’s sarcasm made Sam angry as well.

“Sure, Dean, let's trade stories. You first. How was hell? Don't spare the details.”

That made Dean drop the topic. The rest of the car ride was silent. 

\------------------------

“Of course, I wanna help however I can.” 

The nice administrations’ lady was very willing to lead us to Anna’s room. 

“The orderly has no recollection of Anna's escape?” Sam was questioning her while Dean and I looked around. It looked like a normal mental hospital room. It had some white bed linens, a metal frame, and a small desk and chair in one corner. 

“Apparently, she knocked him unconscious. The blow caused some amnesia. He doesn't even remember coming into her room.”

“Hell of a right hook to knock out a guy with 80 pounds on her,” Dean commented.

“We think she may have planned this. Waited behind the door.” The lady led us out of the room and into the hallway. 

“Right. You mentioned Anna's illness was recent.” Sam was looking for any information that would help us. 

She nodded. “Two months ago she was happy, well-adjusted. Journalism major, lots of friends, a bright future.”

“So, what happened? She just flipped?”

“ Well, that's the tragedy of schizophrenia. Within weeks, Anna was overtaken by delusions.”

“What kind of delusions?”

“She thought demons were everywhere.” The lady handed Dean some drawings. 

They depicted a church glass window and several pages were crude pictures of the seals we had tried to stop. 

“Interesting.” We all exchanged looks. 

“It's not uncommon for our patients to believe that monsters are real.”

“It's Revelations.” Dean pointed out to Sam and me. 

“Since when does the Book of Revelations have jack-o-lanterns?” 

“ It's a little-known translation,” Dean lied to the lady. 

“Well, Anna's father was a church deacon. When she became ill, her paranoia took on religious overtones. She was convinced the devil was about to rise up and end the world. I hope you find her. It's dangerous for her to be out there alone right now.” She sounded like she genuinely cared for Anna. 

\------------------------

After finishing up at the hospital, we decided to try Anna’s family. Luckily, her parents were still living in the area.

“Maybe they're not home.” Dean had knocked on the door, with no reply. 

“Both cars in the driveway.” Sam gestured to the two parked vehicles.

“There are no mental signatures in the house,” I reported. 

Dean tried the door. It was unlocked. We cautiously ventured in. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Milton? We're from the sheriff's department. We just wanted to ask you a couple of questions.” Sam called. There was no answer. 

We made it through the door, to see two bodies in the living room. It was the Miltons. Each had had their throats slit. Blood was pooled around them. Sam sighed. Dean knelt next to the bodies and sniffed at something. 

“Sulfur. Demons beat us here. Whatever the deal is with Anna-”

“Yeah, they want her. And they're not screwing around.” Sam finished. 

Dean stood up and went looking for clues. “All right, so, I'm Girl Interrupted and I know the score of the Apocalypse. Just busted out of the nut box. Possibly using superpowers, by the way. Where do I go? 

“Hey, you got those sketches from Anna's notebook?” Sam picked up a frame. 

Dean nodded and handed them over. 

Sam held the drawing and the photo side by side. “Check this out. She was drawing the window of her church, over and over. If you were religious, scared, and had demons on your ass, where would you go to feel safe?”

\------------------------

We managed to get to the church fairly quickly. All of us went in with guns ready, and I led the boys to the attic, where Anna’s mind was bright with fear. 

“Dean.” Sam nodded towards the motion he saw behind a pillar. He gestured for us to put our guns up. Dean and Sam placed theirs in their waistbands. I put mine in a holster my clothes had formed. 

“Anna? We're not gonna hurt you. We're here to help. My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean, and my friend, Jade.” Sam called out. 

“Sam? Not Sam Winchester?” Her voice was wavering. 

“Yeah.” Sam stopped walking forward. 

Anna stepped out from behind a wall. She had fair skin, with blazing red hair. Her clothes were a little dirty, but that was to be expected after hiding out for a few days. Her face was gaunt, like she hadn’t been sleeping well, also to be expected. 

“And you're Dean? The Dean?”

Dean smirked. “ Well, yeah. The Dean, I guess.”

Anna came forward. “It's really you. Oh, my God. The angels talk about you. You were in hell, but Castiel pulled you out and some of them think you can help save us.” She turned to Sam. “And some of them don't like you at all.” Anna turned to me last.” And they all think you’re an anomaly, though one has a soft spot for you. They talk about you all the time lately. I feel like I know you all.”

“So you talk to angels?” Dean tried to clarify.

Anna shook her head. “ Oh, no, no. No way. They probably don't even know I exist. I just kind of overhear them.”

“You overhear them,” Dean prompted. 

“ Yeah, they talk and sometimes I just hear them in my head.”

“Like right now?”

“Not right this second. But a lot. And I can't shut them out. There are so many of them.”

“They lock you up with a case of the crazies when really you were just tuning in to angel radio?” Dean pieced together. 

Anna looked so relieved that someone believed her. “Yes. Thank you.”

“Anna, when did the voices start? Do you remember?” Sam was being gentle while getting the needed information.

Anna nodded. “I can tell you exactly. September 18th.”

“The day I got out of hell,” Dean added. 

“First words I heard, clear as a bell: "Dean Winchester is saved.”

“What do you think?” Dean turned to his brother. 

“This is above my paygrade, man.”

I shrugged as well. 

“Well, at least now we know why the demons want you so bad. They get ahold of you and they can hear everything that the other side's cooking. You're 1-900-ANGEL.” Dean tried to get Anna to calm down by joking. 

Anna didn’t react. She was too preoccupied with a different train of thought. “Hey, do you know, are my parents okay? I didn't go home. I was afraid.”

Before we could break the news, Ruby came storming in. “You got the girl? Good, let's go.”

“Her face!” Anna recoiled from Ruby. I understood that Anna meant Ruby’s real face, not her vessel’s. I had had a shock as well, seeing a demon’s true face. 

“It's okay. She's here to help.” Sam held up a hand to calm Anna. 

“Don't be so sure.” I could hear Dean mutter. 

“We have to hurry.” Ruby was almost yelling. 

“Why?”Dean didn’t want to follow any directions given by a demon. 

“Because a demon's coming. Big-timer. We can fight later, Dean.” She threw back. 

“Convenient. Showing up right when we find the girl with some bigwig on your tail.” I could tell that Dean was looking for any reason to not trust Ruby, not that I blamed him. 

She shook her head. “I didn't bring him. You did. He followed you guys from the girl's house. We gotta go now.”

“- Dean.” We all looked to where Sam’s finger was pointing. A stone statue of Mary was bleeding from its eyes. 

“It's too late. He's here.” 

We all exchanged looks. Then Sam started to move. 

“Come with me.” He took Anna by the arm and moved her into one of the closets. 

“- Okay. Stay in there, don't move.”

“Okay.” Anna was terrified. 

I stood in front of the doorway that led to the room where Anna was. I pulled my knives. Sam moved back into the main area and pulled out a flask of holy water. 

Ruby shook her head. “No, Sam. You gotta pull him right away.”

“Hold on-”

Ruby cut Dean’s protest’s off. “Now's not the time to bellyache about Sam going dark-side. He does his thing, he exorcises that demon, or we die.”

Sam put the flask up just as the door to the attic burst open to reveal a demon. The vessel’s eyes flashed white as Sam tried to force the demon out. It didn’t work. It barely even effected the demon. 

“That tickles. You don't have the juice to take me on, Sam.” The being raised his hand and flung Sam across the room and down the open stairs.

I wanted to help but knew that Anna was more important at the time. 

Dean rushed the demon with the demon knife, but he was blocked. The demon spoke while they were locked together. “Hello again, Dean. Come on. Don't you recognize me? Oh, I forgot I'm wearing a pediatrician. But we were so close. In hell.” He continued to beat Dean up. 

“Alastair.” Dean ground out. 

I heard a noise from behind me. Anna had come out of the closet from all the noise. She shrieked as she saw Dean get thrown across the room. 

By that time, Sam had recovered and retrieved the demon knife from where Dean had been forced to drop it. Sam managed to stab Alastair in the chest as he turned to face Sam. It didn’t kill him, but I could tell it pained him. 

The boys shot looks at each other and me while Alastair was occupied. It told me the plan of retreating… through the glass window. Alastair was between us and the door anyways. We made a dash towards the window. I shattered it with my powers before the boys had to do it with their bodies. I flew down, but the boys had gone first, so I couldn’t cushion their fall. 

I looked back at the window to see Alastair pull the knife out of his chest. 

\------------------------

“Are you almost done?” Dean was standing by the sink of our motel, rinsing the blood out of his mouth. 

“I’m going as fast as I can.” I was stitching up a nasty cut Sam had from falling on the glass. I was the least wounded out of the three of us, with only a few minor scratches from falling glass. They were already healing up. 

“You know I've got a dislocated shoulder here.”

“Yeah. I'll pop it back when I'm finished.” I cut the extra string from the last stitch.

“Give me that.” Sam had tried to pour beer over his wound to clean it. I put it aside and grabbed a bottle of medical alcohol from my pocket space. That was used to clean the wound instead.

“Here.” I handed Sam a roll of gauze, trusting he could do that part himself. 

I moved over to Dean and started cleaning blood off his face. 

“So you lost the magic knife?” Dean stared at Sam.

“Yeah, saving your ass.” Sam was done with the gauze, so I tossed him a bottle of pain killers. He downed two of them. 

“Who the hell was that demon?” Sam wanted answers of his own. 

“ No one good.” Dean changed the subject. “We gotta find Anna.”

“Ruby's got her. I'm sure she's okay.” 

I mentally pushed Sam down onto his back on the bed. Then, I moved behind Dean to fix his shoulder. 

“On three. One, two…” I shoved his shoulder back into place. Dean grunted and continued the conversation. I gave him some painkillers too. 

“Ah! Are you sure about Ruby? Because I think it's just as likely she used us to find radio girl and brought that demon to kill us.”

“No, she took Anna to keep her safe,” Sam denied. 

“Yeah. Why hasn't she called to tell us where she is?” Dean placed a cold pack against his shoulder. 

“ Because that demon is probably watching us right now. Waiting to follow us right back to Anna again. That's why he let us go.” Sam was adamant in his reasoning. 

“You call this letting us go?” Dean gestured to his shoulder. 

“Yeah, I do. Killing us would have been no problem with that thing. That's why, for now, we gotta lay low and wait for Ruby to contact us.” Sam was getting angry with Dean. 

“How's she gonna do that? Why do you trust her so much?” 

I stayed silent, knowing the boys had to figure this out on their own, as they always have had to. 

“I told you.”

“ You gotta do better than that. I'm not trying to pick a fight here. I mean, I really want to understand. But I need to know more. I mean, I deserve to know more.”

“Because she saved my life.”

Sam’s eyes unfocused. I could tell he was remembering something. 

“Sam.” Dean snapped his brother out of the memory after a few seconds. 

“I'm okay. Thanks. Ruby came back for me. Whatever you have to say, she saved me. More than that, she got through to me. What she said to me, it's what you would've said. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here.”

Before Dean could respond, a knock sounded on the door. 

“Housekeeping.”

“Not now,” Dean called back. 

“Sir, I've got clean towels.” The lady wasn’t going to be denied. 

I opened the door a little. “Couldn't you just leave them at the door?”

“I'm at this address.” She handed me a slip of paper. 

“I'm sorry, what?” The lady was serious. 

“Go now. Go through the bathroom window. Don't stop, don't take the car, don't pass Go. There are demons in the other hallways and parking lot.”

“Ruby?” I let my sight show that she really was a demon. 

‘ _ Yup, ugly face and all.’ _

The cleaning lady nodded. “ Okay, yeah, I'm possessing this maid for a hot minute. Sue me.”

“What about… ?” I meant her other vessel.

“Coma girl? Rotting on the floor at the cabin with Anna. So I've gotta hurry back. See you when you get there. Go!”

I shut the door after her and rushed to tell the boys what had happened. 

We left in a rush, doing exactly as Ruby had told me. 

\------------------------

“ Glad you could make it.”

We managed to make it to the barn where Ruby and Anna were. 

“ Yeah, thanks. Anna, are you okay?” Sam went over to the girl. 

“ Yeah, I think so. Ruby's not like other demons. She saved my life.”

“I hear she does that.” Dean glanced over to Ruby. “I guess I - You know.”

“- What?” I couldn’t tell if Ruby really didn’t understand, or if she just wanted to hear Dean say it. 

“ I guess I owe you for Sam. And I just wanna… You know?”

“ Don't strain yourself.” I joked. Dean shot me a look. 

“Okay, then. Is the moment over? Good, because that was awkward.” Dean looked away. 

Anna looked at Sam. “Hey, Sam? Do you think it'd be safe to make a quick call? Just to tell my parents I'm okay? They must be completely freaked.” 

Everyone sent her pitying looks.

“Um, What?”

“Anna. Your parents.” Sam sat down on a crate next to her. 

“What about them?”

“ - I'm sorry.”

Anna connected the looks and what Sam was saying. “No, they're not- Why is this happening to me?” She started to sob.

“I don't know.” 

I went over to hug the poor girl. She sobbed against me for a time before going still.

She bolted upright and would have got me in the chin if it weren’t for my reflexes.

“They're coming.”

The lights started to flicker. We all looked at each other. 

“The back room. Come on.” I pulled Anna along, then shut her in. I went out to the main area, where the boys and Ruby were arming themselves. I pulled out my knives. 

Upon seeing mine, Ruby remembered about hers. “Where's the knife?”

“ About that-” Dean glanced at Sam. 

“You're kidding.” She glared at Dean. 

“Hey, don't look at me.” He glanced at his brother. 

Her glare turned to Sam.

“Thanks a lot.” Sam looked at his brother for throwing him under the bus. 

Ruby threw her hands up. “Great. Just peachy. Impeccable timing, guys, really.”

The door to the barn started to shake, and after a few seconds, it flew open. A gust forced us all to look away from the door. When we looked back up, Castiel and Uriel entered the barn. Ruby’s eyes flashed black. 

“Please tell me you're here to help,” Dean asked.“We've been having demon issues all day.”

“I can see that.” Uriel was looking at Ruby like she was the scum of the earth, not that I was disagreeing. “Do you want to explain why you have that stain in the room?”

“ We're here for Anna.” Castiel got his associate back on topic. 

“Here for her like "here for her"?” Dean stood between the angels and the room where Anna was. 

“Stop talking. Give her to us,” Uriel demanded. 

“Are you gonna help her,” Sam asked. Castiel’s reply shocked the boys. 

“No. She has to die”

Why do you want Anna?” Sam’s eyebrows furrowed. 

Uriel tried to move forward. “Out of the way.”

Dean moved in front of him. “Whoa. Okay, I knew she's wiretapping your angel chats or whatever. But it's no reason to gank her.”

“Don't worry. I'll kill her gently,” Uriel replied with false sincerity. 

Dean’s eye’s turned cold. “You're some heartless sons of bitches, you know that?” 

“As a matter of fact, we are. And?” Uriel shot back. 

“And Anna's an innocent girl.” Sam couldn’t believe the angels. 

“She is far from innocent.” 

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“ It means she's worse than this abomination you've been screwing.” Uriel motioned to Ruby. “Now, give us the girl.”

Sam, Dean, and I exchanged looks. 

“Sorry. Get yourself another one. Try JDate.”

“Who's gonna stop us?” Uriel stalked forward. “You two? Or this demon whore?” He threw Ruby into a window and knocked her down. Uriel grabbed her by the throat and tried to smite her. 

Dean grabbed up a piece of metal and tried to hit Uriel’s back. Uriel turned around and started fighting Dean. 

Meanwhile, Castiel was stalking towards where Anna was. Sam and I were in between him and his goal. Sam tried to reason with him. 

“ Cas, stop. Please.” Castiel merely tapped his head and sent him to sleep. 

At that, I threw up an aura shield around myself to protect me from his power. Before he could reach me, however, a bright light swept both Castiel and Uriel away. 

Dean lay panting on the ground. “ What the-?”

I went to wake Sam up as Dean helped Ruby. “Come on.”

Dean opened the door to where Anna was. Her hand was covered in blood. Dean raced over. 

“Anna? Anna.”

“Are they gone?”

“-Did you kill them?” It was evident Anna did something, as there was a sigil on the wall, written in blood. I quickly memorized the symbol, for use later.

“No. I sent them away. Far away.”

“ You want to tell me how,” Dean coaxed. 

She shook her head. “That just popped in my head. I don't know how I did it. I just did it.”

\------------------------

“What do you think?” 

We had made it to an abandoned house, to lay low for a time. Anna was getting some sleep in one of the upper rooms.

“Anna's getting more interesting by the second.”

Dean huffed. “Yeah, I agree. And what did they mean by she's not innocent?”

“ It seems they want her bad, not just because of the angel radio thing. I mean, that blood spell? It's some serious crap, man.” Sam theorized. “ Something's going on with her.”

“See what you can find,” Dean ordered. 

“What are you gonna do?”

“ Anna may have sent the angels to the outfield but they're gonna be back. We gotta get ourselves safe now.” Dean stepped outside. 

I sat down on the ground to meditate. I had to pull all my power deep inside of me, so the angels couldn’t track us with it. 

\------------------------

“Iron walls drenched in salt. Demons can't even touch the joint.”

Dean was explaining the panic room to Anna. He had called Bobby to let him know we were coming. 

“Which I find racist, by the way.” Ruby was having to stand outside the room, not being able to get in. 

“Write to your congressman,” Dean snarked back. 

“Here.” Ruby threw Dean little bundles.

“Hex bags?”

She nodded. “Extra-crunchy. Hide us from angels, demons, all comers.”

“Thanks, Ruby.”

Ruby nodded again, then pause as she realized what Dean had just done. 

“Don't lose this.” Dean handed a hex bag to Anna, then tossed one to me. 

“So, Anna, what's playing on angel radio? Anything useful?”

Anna shook her head. She was sitting uneasily on the cot in the room. “It's quiet. Dead silence.”

“Good. That's not troubling at all,” Dean said with no little amount of sarcasm. 

We're in trouble, huh? You guys are scared?” Anna was uncertain.

“No.” Dean smiled at her reassuringly. 

“Hey, Dean, Jade.” Sam’s voice came from upstairs. 

We made our way out of the room. 

“Keep an eye on her.” Dean threw over his shoulder at Ruby. 

We met Sam in the kitchen. 

“How's the car?”

“I got her, she's fine.” 

I rolled my eyes, of course, Dean’s first concern was Baby. 

“Where's Bobby?”

“The Dominican. Said we break anything, we buy it.”

“Is he working a job?”

“Hope so. Otherwise, he's at Hedonism in a banana hammock and a trucker cap.”

Sam clenched his eyes shut at the mental image. “That's seared in my brain, now. Thanks.” 

We made our way into the study. 

“What'd you find on Anna?”

Sam pulled out a file. “Not much. Her parents were Rich and Amy Milton. A church deacon and a housewife.”

“Riveting.” I could feel Dean’s eye roll. 

Sam pointed to a paragraph in the report. “There is something here in the report. Turns out this latest psych episode wasn't her first. When she was 2 and a half, she'd get hysterical anytime her dad got close. She was convinced that he wasn't her real daddy.”

“Who was? The plumber? Hmm? Little snaking the pipes? Heh.”

Sam rolled his eyes and chastised his brother. “Dude, you're confusing reality with porn again.” 

I smacked Dean in the arm as well.

Sam got back on topic. “Anna didn't say. She just kept repeating that this real father of hers was mad. Very mad. Like wanted-to-kill-her mad.”

“Kind of heavy for a 2-year-old.”

“Well, she saw a kid's shrink, got better and grew up normal. Until now.”

At this point, I could hear Anna walk up into the doorway behind the boys. I didn’t stop their talk, because Anna deserved to be a part of the conversation too. 

“So, what's she hiding?”

“Why don't you just ask me to my face?”

The boys turned around at Anna’s voice. 

“Nice job watching her.” Dean glared at Ruby. 

She shrugged. “I'm watching her.”

Sam sighed. “No, you're right. Anna, is there anything you wanna tell us?” 

“About what?” 

“The angels said you were guilty of something. Why would they say that?” 

The shock of Anna’s situation was fading, now she was on to the angry phase. “You tell me. Tell me why my life has been leveled, why my parents are dead. I don't know. I swear, I would give anything to know.”

I could see an idea forming in Sam’s eyes. “ Okay. Then let's find out.”

\------------------------

We all looked up at the sound of footsteps coming from the basement stairs. Dean was leading a blind lady. I immediately recognized her as Pamela Barns. The boys’ psychic friend. 

“Pamela.” Sam went over to greet her. 

“Hey. - Sam. Sam, is that you?” I could feel the mischievousness rolling of the lady. “ She was feeling Sam’s torso as if she was trying to figure out if it was really him. 

“Yeah, It's me, Sam. I'm right here.” Sam pulled her into a hug. 

“Oh. Know how I can tell?” She slapped him on the rear. “That perky little butt of yours.

Bounce a nickel off that thing.”

“Ha-ha-ha.” Sam realized that Pamela had been fooling him. 

“Of course, I know it's you, Grumpy. The same way I know that's a demon, that’s a very powerful person, and that poor girl's Anna. And that you've been eyeing my rack.”

Sam started to stutter a reply.

Pamela laughed. “Don't sweat it, kiddo. I still got more senses than most.” She turned to me. “Who and what are you? Your light’s faint, but there is an almost endless core of power in you.”

I walked forward and shook Pamela’s hand. “Hi. Nice to meet you. My name is Jade. As for what I am. I’m a one of a kind being called a mystic. I’m a new friend of Sam and Dean.”

Pamela shook my hand and smiled. Then, she moved over to Anna. “Anna. How are you? I'm Pamela.” 

“Hi.” Anna smiled at the friendly lady.

“Dean told me what's been going on. I'm excited to help.”

“That's nice of you.” 

“Well, not really. Any chance I can dick over an angel, I'm taking it.”

“Why?” Anna didn’t understand Pamela’s dislike of the beings. 

“They stole something from me.” Pamela took off her shades as an explanation. Her eyes had no pupil or iris. Anna stared.

She put them back on. “Demon-y, I know. But they're just plastic. Good for business. It makes me look extra-psychic, don't you think?” She waved her hand, as if brushing away the topic. “ Now, how about you tell me what your deal is? Don't you worry. Nice and relaxed.”

Pamela placed an arm around Anna’s shoulders, lead her into the panic room, and set her gently onto the cot attached to the wall. 

Pamela explained that she was going to try and use hypnosis to retrieve any lost memories. Pamela started to coach Anna through the process. Dean, Sam, and I stood off to the side. 

“Now, I'm going to count down from five to zero. When we're at zero, you'll be in a deep state of hypnosis. As I count down, just go deeper and deeper, okay? Five… , four… , three… two… , one. Deep sleep. Deep sleep. Every muscle, calm and relaxed. -Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you,” Anna whispered with her eyes still closed. 

“Now, Anna, tell me how can you hear the angels? How did you work that spell?”

“I don't know. I just did.”

“Your father, what's his name?” Pamela tried for a different question. 

“Rich Milton.”

“All right. But I want you to look further back to when you were very young. Just a couple of years old.”

Anna started to tremble. “I don't wanna.”

“It'll be okay, Anna. Just one look, that's all we need.”

“No.”

“What's your dad's name? Your real dad.” Pamela pressed gently. “Why is he angry at you?”

Anna started to shake her head. “No. No. No! No!”

“Calm down.” Pamela tried to get Anna to relax. It didn’t work. 

“No, he's gonna kill me! “ Anna’s whole body was shaking in earnest. 

“Anna? You're safe.” Pamela’s voice wasn’t breaking through whatever memory Anna was in. 

“No! - He's gonna kill me!” Anna was convulsing on the bed, screaming. The lights were flickering, and the door to the room slammed shut. 

“Calm down. It's all right, Anna.”

Dean went to shake Anna awake. Pamela stopped him. 

“Dean, don't.”

“Aah! Aah! Aah!”

Pamela could tell she wasn’t going to get anything else out of Anna. “ Wake in one, two, three, four, five.”

“Anna? Anna? You all right?” Dean supported her as she bolted upright and gasped for breath. 

After a few seconds, Anna was calm. 

“Thank you, Pamela. That helped a lot. I remember now.”

“Remember what?” Sam was curious as to Anna’s swift change in emotion. 

“Who I am.”

“I'll bite. Who are you?”

“ I'm an angel.” Everyone but me stared at her in shock. She held up a hand. “ Don't be afraid. I'm not like the others.”

“I don't find that very reassuring.” Ruby snipped.

“Neither do I,” Pamela added. She seemed a little put out at having helped an angel, even unknowingly.

Anna didn’t respond to the two women, instead addressing Sam and Dean. “So, Castiel, Uriel, they're the ones that came for me?”

“Do you know them,” Dean questioned. 

“We were kind of in the same foxhole.”

“So, what were they, like, your bosses or something?”

“Try the other way around.”

“Look at you.” Dean whistled. 

“But now they wanna kill you?” Pamela was cooler than she had been. 

Anna shrugged. “Orders are orders. I'm sure I have a death sentence on my head. I disobeyed which, for us, is about the worst thing you can do. I fell.”

“Meaning?” Dean didn’t understand, but I did. 

“She fell to Earth. Became human.”

“Wait a minute, I don't understand.” Sam’s hair flopped around as he shook his head. “Angels can just become human?”

Anna paced a little. “Kind of hurts. Try cutting your kidney out with a butter knife.

That kind of hurt. I ripped out my grace.”

“Come again?” The boys weren’t familiar with the term. 

“My grace. It's energy. Hacked it out and fell. My mother, Amy, couldn't get pregnant. She always called me her little miracle. She had no idea how right she was.”

“So you just forgot that you were God's little Power Ranger?” Dean quirked an eyebrow. 

“The older I got, the longer I was human, yeah.”

Ruby spoke up from where she had been leaning against the doorway. “I don't think you appreciate how completely screwed we are.”

“Ruby's right. Heaven wants me dead.” Anna became serious. 

“- And hell just wants her,” Ruby added. “A flesh and blood angel that you can question, torture, that bleeds. Sister, you're the Stanley Cup. And sooner or later, heaven or hell, they're gonna find you.”

Anna stopped pacing. “I know. And that's why I'm gonna get it back. My grace.”

“You can do that?” 

“ If I can find it,” Anna conditioned.

“So what? You're just gonna take some divine bong hit. And shazam, you're Roma Downey?” Dean made a lot of references the more nervous he got. 

“Something like that.”

“All right. I like this plan. So where's this grace of yours?” Dean was smiling at Anna. 

Anna’s shoulders went up. “ Lost track. I was falling about ten thousand miles an hour at the time.”

Sam cut in. “Wait, you mean falling, like, literally? Like in the way a human eye can see? Like a comet, maybe, or a meteor?”

Anna nodded. “Why do you ask?”

\------------------------

Ruby, Sam, and I were the only ones in the room. Ruby was watching Sam, and I was meditating. Dean and Anna had gone to take Pamela back home. Sam had his laptop open. He spun the screen around to show a newspaper article.

“ I remember reading about this while researching for another case. Here, in March '85 a meteorite vanished in the night sky over Northwestern Ohio.” The picture was what looked like a shooting star. “It was sighted nine months before Anna was born. And she was born in that part of Ohio.”

“Pretty buff for a nerd,” Ruby commented. 

Sam huffed. “Look, I think it was Anna. And here, same time, another meteor over Kentucky.”

“And that's her grace?” Dean caught on to what Sam was thinking. 

“ Might be.”

“All right, just narrows it down to an entire state.” Ruby’s sarcasm was almost as good as Deans’. 

“Look, it's a start.”

Ruby stood up from where she had been sitting on the arm of the couch Sam was on. 

“Sam, I'm sorry.”

“ For what?”

“ For bringing you this mess. If I'd known, I would've kept my trap shut.”

“Well, we'll muddle through.” As always Sam tried to see the bright side of things. 

Ruby shook her head. “Not this time. You do not wanna get between these armies. It's Godzilla and Mothra. If one side doesn't get us, the other one will.”

“So, what do you wanna do? Dump Anna and run? Forget it.” Sam could see Ruby was anxious. “Look I know angels freak you out -”

Ruby cut him off. “ Forget angels. It's Alastair I'm scared of. You met him. Practically, the grand inquisitor downstairs. Picasso with a razor.”

“And?” Sam wasn’t following. 

“ And you should pull him out and throw him back in the pit. If you weren't so out of shape. Your abilities are getting flabby.”

“Yeah, so how do I tone up?” Sam put his laptop up. 

I knew what Ruby was getting at, but stayed silent, letting Sam make his own choice. 

Ruby went closer to Sam. “You know how. You know what you gotta do.”

“I'm not doing that anymore.”

“- Sam,-” Ruby tried. 

“ I said no.”

Ruby took a step back. “ Well, then you better pray that Anna gets her groove back. Or we're all dead.”

\------------------------

“Did you find anything?” 

Dean and Anna were back, and we caught them by the Impala. Sam updated them on what he had found. 

“I think so. Union, Kentucky. Found some accounts of a local miracle. In '85, there was an empty field outside of town. Six months later, there was a full-grown oak. They say it looks a century old, at least. Anna, what do you think?”

“The grace. Where it hit, it could have done something like that. Easy.” Anna sounded certain. 

Dean opened the car door again. “So grace ground zero. It's not destruction. It's -”

“Pure creation.” Anna finished his thought. 

\------------------------

We had been on the road for some time. Dean was driving, of course. Sam was next to him. Anna, Ruby, and I were all in the back seat. I was in the middle, separating the demon and angel. 

Dean started to chuckle. 

“What?” 

Dean shook his head at his brother. “Nothing. It's just an angel, a mystic, and a demon, riding in the back seat. It's like the setup to a bad joke. Or a Penthouse forum letter.”

Sam smacked Dean’s arm. “Dude, reality. Porn.”

\------------------------

We had driven through the night and managed to make it to the oak by morning. 

“It's beautiful,” Dean commented, and it really was.

The oak had to have been over three stories tall, with the morning sun glistening perfectly off its dewy leaves. 

“ It's where the grace touched down. I can feel it.” Anna hesitated. 

Dean glanced at her. “You ready to do this?”

“Not really.” But she walked to the base of the tree anyways.

“Anna, what are we even looking for?” Sam and the rest of us were hanging back. 

I did a quick brush with my magic. I couldn’t sense any foreign energy in the tree anymore, though there were traces. 

“It doesn't matter.” Everyone turned to me. “It's not here. Not anymore. Someone took it.”

Anna stood still for a minute, then nodded in agreement, sadness, and a little bit of anger in her eyes.

\------------------------

“We still got the hex bags. I say we head back to the panic room.”

We had stopped at an abandoned house that night, to plan what we were going to do next. 

“What, forever?” Ruby wasn’t keen on Dean’s plan. 

“I'm just thinking out loud.”

“Do you call that thinking?”

“Hey, hey. Stop it.” Sam tried to coll both of them down, but Ruby wasn’t having it. 

“Anna's grace is gone, you understand? She can't angel up and protect us. We can't fight heaven and hell. One side, maybe, but not both. Not at once.”

Anna’s voice stopped all the arguing. “Guys, the angels are talking again.”

“What're they saying?” Everyone turned to her. 

“It's weird. Like a recording. A loop. It says: "Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight, or…” She trailed off. 

" Or what,” Dean pressed. 

She continued. "Or we hurl him back to damnation.”

Dean’s eyes widened. 

I stood up from where I had been sitting next to Anna. “Dean, I won’t let them. 

Sam stepped closer to Anna. " Anna, do you know of any weapon that works on an angel?”

“To what? To kill them? Nothing we could get to. Not right now.”

Dean cut in. “Okay, wait. I say we call Bobby, we get him back from Hedonism-” 

Sam cut him off. “Dean, what's he gonna tell us that we don’t already know?!”

“ I don't know, but we gotta think of something!”

The brother’s exchanged looks, and we got down to forming a plan. 

\------------------------

“I don't know, man. Where's Ruby?”

We were at an abandoned farm, waiting for Ruby. 

Dean shrugged. “Hey, she's your hell buddy.” He was drinking from a flask. 

Anna walked over. “It's a little early for that, isn't it?”

“It's 2 a.m. Somewhere.”

“You okay? -” All of us could tell something had him rattled.

“Yeah, of course.” Dean brushed us off. 

Before Sam could push it, a strong wind blew the barn doors open, and in walked Castiel and Uriel. I pulled out both my knives.

Castiel nodded at Anna. “Hello, Anna. It's good to see you.”

“How? How did you find us?” Sam caught the stare Castiel was leveling at Dean. “Dean?”

“I'm sorry.”

Sam sounded heartbroken over Dean’s betrayal. “Why?”

Anna answered for Dean. “Because they gave him a choice. They either kill me or kill you. I know how their minds work.” She turned to Dean and kissed him. “You did the best you could. I forgive you.”

Anna walked towards the angels. “Okay, no more tricks. No more running. I'm ready.”

“I'm sorry.” Cas apologized to Anna.

Anna’s eyes were almost pitying as she looked at the angel. “No. You're not. Not really. You don't know the feeling.”

Castiel tried again. “Still, we have a history. It's just -

Anna cut him off. “Orders are orders. I know. Just make it quick.”

Before anything further could be done, I felt a presence behind us. 

“Don't you touch a hair on that poor girl's head.”

It was Alistair, Ruby, and a couple of demon lackeys. Ruby was being held up, I could see the blood on her shirt. 

“How dare you come in this room you pussing sore? “ Uriel was looking at Alistair in disgust. 

Alistair clicked his tongue. “Name-calling? That hurt my feelings. You sanctimonious, fanatical prick.”

“Turn around and walk away now.” Castiel’s voice was much less emotional. 

“Sure. Just give us the girl. We'll make sure she gets punished good and proper.”

Cas wasn’t having it. “You know who we are and what we will do.” He walked closer to the demon. “I won't say it again. Leave now or we lay you to waste.”

Alistair shrugged. “Think I'll take my chances.”

There were a few seconds of silence, then a fight began. Sam dragged Dean and me to the side. We watched as Castiel managed to get a hand on Alistair and try to smite him. It didn’t work. 

“Sorry, kiddo. Why don't you go run to Daddy?”

Alistair knocked Castiel backward, then grabbed him by the throat. Alistair started to chant something in latin, but before he could complete whatever he was trying to do, Dean knocked him off of Cas with a metal pipe he had found. 

It didn’t do much damage, and Alistair got back up. “ Dean, Dean, Dean. I am so disappointed. You had such promise.” 

He started to use his powers to choke the boys. It didn’t work on me. 

_ ‘Huh, looks like demon juice doesn’t work on me.’ _

I started to make my way towards Alistair, but before I could do anything, a bright light began emanating from the other side of the barn.

Anna was glowing with white light. “ Uh! Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes!”

Everyone but the angels threw their arms over their eyes. When the light was gone, so were Anna and Alistair. 

The boys got to their feet and look at Castiel and Uriel, who were still there. Dean picked up the demon knife, which seemed to have been left behind. 

“ What are you waiting for? Aren't you gonna go get Anna? Unless, of course, you're scared.”

“This isn't over.” Uriel tried to advance on Dean but Castiel held him back. 

“It looks over to me, junk-less,” Dean retorted. 

Uriel just glared. I caught Cas’s eye. He looked almost relieved that he didn’t end up killing Anna. 

With the sound of flapping wings, both angels left. Ruby limped over to Sam. 

“Are you okay?”

“Not so much.”

“What took you so long to get here,” Dean asked.

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Sorry, I'm late with the demon delivery. I was only being tortured.”

Dean clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Well, I gotta hand it to you, Sammy. Bringing them all together, all at once, angels and demons? It's a damn good plan.”

Sam was still a little out of breath from Alistair. “Yeah, well, when you got Godzilla and Mothra on your ass best to get out of their way and let them fight.”

“Now you're just bragging.” Dean turned to where Anna had been. “So I guess she's some big-time angel now, huh? She must be happy wherever she is.”

Sam frowned. “I doubt it.”

\------------------------

“I can’t believe we made it out of there. Again.” 

We clinked our bottles together in a toast. 

We were on the side of a side road, on the hood of the Impala. The boys were drinking beer, while I was drinking Sprite. When Dean had learned I didn’t really drink, he started packing me a couple in the beer cooler. 

Dean turned somber. “I know you heard him.”

It took Sam a second to figure out. “Who?”

“Alastair. What he said. About how I had promise.” Dean wasn’t looking at Sam. 

“I heard him.” Sam didn’t elaborate. 

At that, Dean looked up. “You're not curious?”

Sam turned to his brother. “Dean, I'm damn curious. But you're not talking about hell and I'm not pushing.”

There were a couple of seconds of silence, then Dean spoke up. “ It wasn't four months, you know.”

Sam startled. “What?”

“It was four months up here, but down there I don't know, time's different. It was more like 40 years.”

“My God.” Sam’s eye’s widened. 

Dean nodded and took a breath. “They sliced and carved and tore at me in ways that you… Until there was nothing left. And then suddenly, I would be whole again. Like magic. Just so they could start it all over. And Alastair, at the end of every day, every one, he would come over and he would make me an offer. To take me off the rack if I put souls on. If I started the torture. And every day, I told him to stick it where the sun shines. For 30 years, I told him. But then I couldn't do it anymore, Sammy. I couldn't. Then I got off that rack. God help me, I got right off it and I started ripping them apart. I lost count of how many souls. The things that I did to them.”

Sam pat Dean on the shoulder. “Dean, you held out for 30 years. That's longer than anyone would have.”

Dean started to cry. “How I feel, this thing inside me. I wish I couldn't feel anything, Sammy. I wish I couldn't feel a damn thing.”

I slid down the hood a little and hugged Dean as he cried. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“Okay, Bobby. Thanks.”

We were in an old diner, with Sam talking to Bobby on the phone.

I was on my first hunt with the boys in a while. Bobby had needed some help at the scrapyard, so I stayed behind after the Anna fiasco. After that, the boys were jumping from case to case so fast, they didn’t have the time to pick me up. 

Of course, when we reunited, Sam and Dean had filled me in on what they had been up to. The cases included, but weren’t limited to; a female ghost, magicians, a ghost bully, and a siren. It was all pretty weird, but that’s life as a hunter. 

“What's up?” Dean came back over to our table with his food. I accepted my milkshake. Sam hadn’t been hungry. 

Sam got on his laptop. “Uh- Bobby found something in Wyoming.”

“A job?” Dean pulled out a chair.

“ Maybe. Small town, no one's died in the past week and a half.”

“Is that so unusual?”

“ Well, it's how they're not dying. Um- One guy with terminal cancer strolls out of hospice. Another guy gets capped by a mugger, walks away without a scratch. Police say Mr. Jenkins was shot in the heart at point-blank range by a 9 millimeter.”

“ And he's not a donut?” Dean started munching on his burger. 

“ Locals are saying it's a miracle.”

“Okay. It's gotta be something nasty, right? Maybe people making deals or something?”

“Do you think?” 

“What else would it be?”

“ I don't know.” Sam shrugged and got up. 

“All right. Get those to go. Come on.” Sam paused as he realized Dean hadn’t moved “What?”

“ You want me with you?”

Sam didn’t understand. “Why wouldn't I?”

“ Ah, I don't know, I don't wanna be holding you back or nothing.”

“Dude, I've told you a hundred times, that was the siren talking, not me. Can we get past this?” Sam threw his hands out in exasperation. 

“ Yeah, we're past it.” Dean got up and went to get a to-go box. 

\---------------------------

“Now, you two said you were bloggers?”

We were at the house of the mugging survivor, Jim Jenkins, Sam thought it was the best place to start. 

“ Yes, sir. FlooredByTheLord.com. All God's glory fit to blog.” Dean was grinning, not helping our ‘we are real’ vibe. 

Sam cleared his throat and got the conversation going. “People around town are saying what happened to you was a miracle.

Mr. Jenkins nodded. “It was, plain as day.”

Sam was fishing for any clues. “How can you be so sure?”

“ How else do you explain it? The doctors can't. There's a bullet in my heart. It's pumping like a piston.”

“Well, how do you explain it?” Dean tried a different line of questioning. 

Mr. Jenkins got serious. He leaned forward. “Look, honestly, I was nobody's saint. Not exactly father of the year either. But, when that guy shot me and I didn't bleed a drop, I just knew the Lord was giving me a second chance.”

“That so?”

“ I had this feeling like angels were watching over me. I wouldn't expect you guys to understand.”

“Well, we'll just have to try,” Dean said with a fake smile.

“You wouldn't have happened to have swung by a crossroads in the past week or so?”

“No.” Mr. Jenkins shot Sam a questioning look. 

“Maybe you met someone? With black eyes? Or red?”

Mr. Jenkins started to get suspicious. “Who'd you guys say you were again?”

Dean shook his head. “ Never mind. Thank you for your time.”

\---------------------------

“Hey.” 

Sam shut the door of the motel we were staying in. He had just got back from checking in on the man who survived cancer. 

I was on a bed meditating, and Dean was doing some research on the laptop. 

“Anything?”

I opened my eyes and walked over to the boys. 

“That cancer survivor? He was clinically dead. His wife pulled the plug and now he's taking her out for their 20th anniversary.”

“Any sign of a deal?”

Sam shook his head. “ No. What about you? Find anyone dying?”

Dean spun the laptop around. It had a picture of a young boy pulled up. “Not since Cole Griffith. He dropped 10 days ago. It was the last death I could find.”

“So, what are you thinking?”

“Maybe it is what the people say it is.” Dean got up and went over to make himself a coffee. 

Sam took his place in front of the laptop. “Miracles? Dean, our experience, when do miracles just happen?”

“There are no deals. There's, uh, no skeevy faith healers. I mean, these souls just ain't getting dragged into the light.”

That gave Sam an idea. “Maybe because there's no one around to carry them.”

“What do you mean?” Dean turned around with his mug.

“Well, Grim Reapers, that's what they do, right, reap souls?”

“If death ain't in town… ” Dean was starting to piece together what Sam was thinking. 

“Then nobody's dying.” Sam finished the though. 

“So, what, the local Reaper's on strike? Playing the back nine? I don't know, Sam.” Dean was skeptical. 

“Well, then let's talk to somebody who might.”

“Last I checked, Huggy Bear ain't available.” It took me a second to realize Dean was talking about Death. 

It wasn’t what Sam meant. “No, dude, the kid.” He gestured to the laptop, which still showed a picture of the last kid to die. 

“The kid? The kid's a doornail.”

“Exactly. If he was the last person to die, then maybe he's seen something. We should talk to him.”

Dean huffed a laugh. “I love how matter-of-fact you are about that. Strange lives.” He took a sip of his coffee. 

\---------------------------

“You sure this is gonna work?”

It was the middle of the night, and the boys and I were at Cole’s grave, trying to summon him. 

“ No. But if his spirit's around, this should smoke him out.” Sam was setting up the ritual ingredients. Dean gave him a look. “What?”

“ This job is jacked, that's what.” Dean was sitting on a gravestone. 

“How so?”

“You want me to gank a monster or torch a corpse? Hey, pfft, let's light it up, right? But this? If we fix whatever this is, people will start dropping dead. Good people.”

“Look, I don't want them to die either, Dean. But there's a natural order.”

“He’s right, Dean,” I added. 

Dean looked at both of us as if we’d grown second heads. “You're kidding, right?”

“What?”

“You don't see the irony in that? You guys and me, we're like the poster boys of the unnatural order. All we do is ditch death.”

“Yeah, but the normal rules don't really apply to us, do they?” Sam stood up. 

“ We're no different than anybody else.” Dean was in slight denial. 

Sam gestured to himself. “I'm infected with demon blood. You've been to hell. She’s not even from this world.”

I had ended up telling the boys that I was from another universe, minus the “You guys are a TV show” bit. 

“I know you wanna think of yourself as Joe the Plumber, but you're not. Neither am I. Sooner you accept that the better off you're gonna be.”

Dean blew into the cold, the air making it look like smoke was coming out of his mouth. “Ah, Joe the Plumber was a douche.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “You gonna help me finish this?”

I heard a noise from behind u, right before all of us heard a voice. “Hey! - What are you doing here?”

It was a night guard. His flashlight fell onto the ritual things Sam had been setting up. 

“What the hell is this?”

“ Oh, this- This is not what it looks like.” Sam and Dean weren’t used to getting caught. 

“Really? Because it looks like devil worship.”

“What? No, no. This is not devil worship. This- This is- This- This is the- I don't have a good answer.” Dean was not good at making up lies under pressure. 

“Look, we're leaving.” Sam held his hands up. 

I felt like something was off about the man. I hadn’t heard him approach, even though there was snow on the ground. I let my shields around my eyes drop, and sure enough, the man was a demon.

“Sam, Dean, he’s a demon.” 

At my words, the man’s eyes rolled back, leaving only the whites showing. The boys tensed up. 

“Alastair.” Dean identified. ” I thought you got deep-fried, extra crispy. “

“No. Just the pediatrician I was riding. His wife's still looking for him. It's hilarious.” Alistair waved a hand. “Anyway, no time to chat. Got a hot date with death.” 

Alistair flicked a finger and Dean went flying, hitting his head on a gravestone on the way down. I, not being affected, rushed over to Dean. Alistair tried to do the same thing with Sam, but it wasn’t working. 

“You're stronger, Sam. You’ve been Soloflexing with your little slut?”

“ You have no idea.” 

Sam waved his hand and sent Alistair flying into a tree. He held Alistair there, but before Sam could do anything. Alistair smoked out of the meatsuit. 

\---------------------------

“How’re you doing?”

“ I'm in pain, that's how I'm doing.” Dean groaned from his position laying on the motel bed. “I think I have a concussion.”

“You want an aspirin?”

Dean sat up. “ No, thanks, House. So demons, huh?” 

Even though he had refused aspirin, I could tell Dean was in a fair amount of pain. I went over and sat next to him. My hand went to his temple as I closed my eyes. I set about in healing him some. It was a skill I had figured out how to do when a friend of mine got hit by a blaster. 

“ Yeah. So much for miracles.”

“What happened with Alastair again?” Dean’s eyes were closed as his headache went away. 

“I told you. He tried to fling me or whatever and it didn't work, so he bailed.” Sam walked over to the coffee bar. 

“How come he couldn't fling you? He chucked you pretty well last time.” Dean’s eyes opened as I finished healing him. 

Sam shrugged. “Got no idea.” 

_ ‘Oh, BS, moose.’ _ I could feel he was lying and, apparently, so could Dean. 

Dean gave his brother a look. “Sam, do me a favor. If you're gonna keep your little secrets, then I can't really stop you. But just don't treat me like an idiot, okay?”

“ What? Dean, I'm not keeping secrets.” 

“Mm-hm. Whatever.” Dean switched topics. “So did you go back and Q&A the dead kid?”

“ Didn't have to. Bobby called. He did some digging.”

“And?”

“ He thinks I'm right. Local Reaper's gone. Not just gone, kidnapped.” Sam came and sat down on the bed across from us. 

“By demons? Why?”

“ Listen to this:” Sam opened a notebook. "And he bloodied Death under the newborn sky. Sweet to taste, but bitter when once devoured.”

“Swanky. What the hell does that mean?” I was asking the same thing in my head. 

“Well, it's from a very obscure, very arcane version of Revelations.”

Dean’s face fell. “Which means what I think it means?”

Sam nodded. “Basically, you kill a Reaper under the solstice moon- Tomorrow night, by the way. - you got yourself a broken seal.”

“How do you ice a Reaper? Can't kill Death.”

“I don't know. Maybe demons can. Where are the angels is what I wanna know? We could use their help for once.”

Dean let out a breath. “It looks like we'll have to take care of this.”

“We gonna just swing in and save the friendly neighborhood Reaper,” Sam huffed. 

“You got a better idea, I'm all ears.”

“Dean, Reapers are invisible. The only people that can see them are the dead and the dying.”

“ If ghosts are the only ones who can see ‘em.” 

“Yeah?”

“Then we become ghosts.”

“I thought Jade fixed your concussion.”

“Sounds crazy, I know,” Dean acknowledged.

“It is crazy.” Sam looked at Dean. “How?”

\---------------------------

“I can't even begin to tell you how crazy you two are.” 

I took Pamela’s bag as she walked into the room. 

Sam got up to greet her. “Well, Pamela, you're a sight for sore eyes.”

She chuckled. “Aw, that's sweet, Grumpy. What do you say to deaf people?”

Sam didn’t have a reply to that. 

“Which one of you brainiacs came up with astral projection?”

“ Yo.” Dean waved his hand, not that Pamela could see it. 

“Of course. Chachi. So let's be clear. You wanna rip your souls out of your bodies and take a little stroll through the spirit world? Mm-hm. Do you have any idea how heavy-duty insane that is?” Pamela moved to lean against one of the beds. 

“ Maybe, but that's where the Reaper is, so- “

She cut Dean off. “- So it's nuts.”

“- Not if you know what you're doing,” Dean hedged. 

“You don't know what you're doing.”

“No. But you do.”

“Yeah, I do. And guess what? I'm sick of being hauled back into your angel-demon, Soc-greaser crap.”

I sighed.  _ ‘Oh, Pamela, how I wish I could save you from fate.’  _

“I'd love to be kicking back with a cold one, watching Judge Judy too.”

“Nice. More blind jokes?”

Dean walked closer to Pamela. “You know what I mean. We're talking the end of the world here, okay? No more tasseled leather pants, no more Ramones CDs, no more nothing. We need your help.”

\---------------------------

“Tell me something, geniuses.” Pamela was getting ready. Dean had convinced her to help us. “Even if you do break into the veil and you find the Reaper, how you gonna save it?”

“ With style and class.” Dean joked as he set up candles. The room had to be dark, so all the lights were off, and the blinds and curtains were closed. 

Pamela wasn’t amused. ”You're gonna be three walking pieces of fog. You can't touch or move anything. You'll be defenseless, hotshot.”

“I seem to recall a bunch of ghosts beating the crap out of us.” Sam was referencing all of the salt-and-burns the boys had been on. 

“Yeah, they had plenty of time to practice,” Pamela pointed out. 

“Well then, I guess we gotta start cramming.”

“Wow! A couple of heroes.” Pamela said sarcastically. She patted the beds. “All right. Lie down.”

We did as she said, with me on the same bed as Dean, as I couldn’t fit with Sam. 

“Close your eyes. Okay, guys. That's it. Showtime.”

It felt as if we had fallen asleep for a few seconds. When I opened my eyes, I was still in the motel room. 

Dean sat up next. “Ah! Well, nothing like shooting blanks. What's plan B?” He looked back at Sam’s body, which was lying on the bed. Sam was also standing next to us. Dean looked back to see both his and my bodies still lying in bed as well. “Oh, I'm so feeling up Demi Moore.”

Pamela kept on talking. “ All right, so I'm assuming you're somewhere over the rainbow.

Remember, I have to bring you back. I'll whisper the incantation in your ear.” She got up and whispered something in Sam’s body’s ear. 

Sam chuckled. 

“What did she say? What did she say?” Sam didn’t tell Dean. 

\---------------------------

We were walking out of the motel, phasing through doors. The boys weren’t used to doing it. It was fun to watch them get weirded out, but I wasn’t laughing. There had been something nagging at me ever since I had woken up after Pamela’s spell-thingy. 

Then, it hit me. “Hey, Dean, Sam.”

They stopped walking. “Yeah.”

“I just realized. I don’t have access to my magic.”

“Oh, so now your Nancy Normal?” Dean was trying to make a joke. 

I shook my head. “No, you don’t understand. I haven’t been without my powers for two hundred years. It’s disgruntling. I won’t be of much help past what a normal hunter could do.”

I could tell I was getting anxious, so I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. 

“Wow, you never mentioned you were that old.” The boys had stopped completely disbelieving the things I said a long time ago. 

“You never asked,” I replied. I opened my eyes and clapped my hands together. “ Since I’ve figured that out, let’s get moving.” 

\---------------------------

The three of us were on a street headed towards the boy’s house. A runner passed straight through Sam, startling him 

“Oh-ho-ho-ho. That was wild.” Dean stuck his arm through his brother. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“ Get out of me.” Sam wasn’t amused. 

“You're such a prude,” but Dean pulled his arm out of his brother. “Come on. We've been spooking this town for hours. And no demons, no black smoke. I say we hit Victoria's Secret, get our peep on, huh?” 

I rolled my eyes at Dean’s childishness. 

We made our way around town and happened to pass Cole’s house. Sam was the first to spot the kid. 

“ Hey, hey. Three o'clock. The kid in the window. Am I crazy or is he looking at us?”

“ That's because we've seen him before.” I recognized the kid. “Newspaper. Cole Griffith. Last person to die in this town.”

The kid flickered away and disappeared from the window. 

We made our way into the house. Dean found the boy’s room, and we entered just in time for a toy basketball to pass through Dean. 

“How are you doing that?”

“Who are you?” Cole was staring at us suspiciously. 

I tried to calm him down a little. “Relax, Cole. It's okay.”

“How do you know my name?”

Sam tried the gentle, ‘you’re dead’ approach. “ Look this isn't gonna be easy to hear but you're dead. You're a spirit. Us too.”

The kid rolled his eyes. “Yeah, thanks, Haley Joel. I know I'm dead. What do you want?”

“We just wanna talk.”

“About what?”

\---------------------------

Cole had moved us down to the kitchen table, so he could watch his mom. “I was outside all morning. They tell you to be careful when it's cold.”

“Cold air can cause an asthma attack?”

Cole nodded at Dean. “ Then I was in my room. It happened so fast. I called out for my mom, but nothing came out. Everything started spinning and then I was just standing there looking down at my body.”

“And that's when you saw the man,” Sam prompted. 

“Creepy old guy in a black suit. He wanted me to go with him but I didn't wanna go.”

“Reaper.” Sam glanced at Dean and me. “How'd you get rid of him?”

“ I didn't. The black smoke did.”

“Black smoke?” 

“ It was everywhere. I hid in the closet. When I came out, it was gone and so was he.” Cole went back to watching his mom. 

“Do you know where the black smoke went?”

“No. But I know where it is.” 

Before anything else could be said, the lights started flickering, even Cole’s mom could see it. 

“They're back.”

“Who?”

Cole didn’t answer Dean and disappeared. 

A strong gust of wind blew through the closed door. I was barely able to see a phantom figure fly up the stairs. 

“Another Reaper.”

We rushed towards the stairs. 

“Hey! Hey! Wait, we need to talk to you.”

I nearly ran into the boys as they stopped right before the stairs. A lady was coming down them, looking straight at Dean. 

“Dean.”

“Do I know you?” He didn’t recognize her. 

“We go way back. You don't remember me?”

Dean shook his head. “Honestly, if I had a nickel for every time I heard a girl say that- You're gonna have to freshen my memory.”

The reaper walked over and kissed Dean. 

“Tessa.”

“That's one of my names, yeah.” She took a step back. 

“So you do know her.” Sam was currently the only confused one in the room. 

Dean turned to his brother. “From the hospital, after the accident.”

“The accident with Dad? So this is the Reaper that came after you.”

“Yeah. Well, this was fun. Now, if you'll excuse me-” Tessa tried to brush past Dean. 

He stopped her. “ Wait, wait, wait. You can't- You can't take the kid.”

Tessa paused. “Why?”

“Demons are in town, that's why. They've already snatched your Reaper pal. The kid knows where.”

“So? 

“So you should shag ass. For all we know, they could try and snatch you too.” Sam wasn’t very happy with the reaper that almost took his brother. 

“Except that this town is off the rails. And someone has to set it straight.”

Dean watched Cole’s mom get ready to leave the house. “Yeah, we understand that. But these are special circumstances.”

“What, your whole angel-demon dance-off? I could care less. I just wanna do my job.”

Sam latched onto that. “Right. We wanna help you do your job. So if you would just bail town-”

“No.”

Dean gave it a go. “Well, then could you hold off until we fix this? Please.”

He got through to Tessa. “All right, but just so we're clear, when I start reaping again I'm starting with the kid.”

“Understood. I'll find him.” Sam started up the stairs.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Dean stopped his brother. “ What are you gonna say to him?”

“Whatever I have to.”

I went with Sam, hoping that a less intimidating person would help. Sam and I made our way to Cole’s room. It looked empty, but the closet door was open a little. I slid down the wall to sit down. I started talking softly. 

“This all must be pretty overwhelming, huh? Pretty scary too.”

After a few seconds, he answered me. “The worst is my mom.”

“It must be hard seeing her like this.”

“She's always coming in here talking to me telling me how sad she is. I knock some stuff over to let her know I'm here, but she only gets sadder.”

I huffed a laugh. “Yeah. You might wanna ease up on the flying soccer balls.”

Sam decided to kneel next to the door. Cole shook his head. “I'm not telling you where the smoke is.”

Sam looked Cole in the eyes. “Hey. What if I told you that if you helped me you wouldn't have to leave here ever?”

I shot Sam a look but didn’t contradict him. I knew it was the only way he would talk.

“What about the one downstairs?”

“Tessa? Oh, she wouldn't bother you. No Reaper would. You could just stay here with your family for as long as you wanted.”

“You can do that?” Cole’s voice was still soft. 

“Yeah, you bet I can do that.”

“Do you swear?”

“I swear.”

\---------------------------

Cole told us the location of the black smoke. All three of us made our way downstairs. Dean and Tessa looked up at the noise. 

“Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Cole. I'm Tessa. I'm not going to hurt you.” Her voice turned soft. 

Cole looked at Sam. 

“It's okay, Cole. Just tell them what you told me and Jade.”

Cole turned back to Dean and Tessa. “I saw the black smoke at my funeral.”

“At the cemetery?”

“At the funeral home. It was everywhere.”

The lights started to flicker again. 

Dean turned to Tessa. “Are you doing that?”

“No.”

The front door burst open again, this time letting in a cloud of black smoke. It blew through the house, enveloping the room. I couldn’t see anything, even with my advanced vision. 

As quickly as it came, it was gone. The smoke had left me and the boys untouched, but Tessa was gone. 

“Tessa?”

Sam turned to Cole. “Cole, are you okay?”

Dean looked off to where the smoke had gone. “How are we supposed to fight that?”

Sam shrugged. “Learn some ghost moves?”

“By tonight?”

“ Yeah, sure, I'll meet you back at Mr. Miyagi's.” Dean snarked. 

“Who's Mr. Miyagi?” Cole glanced between the two men. 

\---------------------------

“ It won't move if you don't concentrate.”

Dean was trying to make a toy windmill move, on Cole’s front porch. I, of course, had already been able to do it, given that the ghost powers seem to use the same learning principles as my regular powers. 

“I am concentrating.” Dean turned back to the toy. It moved a quarter rotation, “Here we go, baby,” then stopped. 

“Did you pull a muscle?” Cole quirked a brow at Dean. 

Dean didn’t like being upstaged by a kid. He gestured to the toy. “All right, Yoda, let's see what you got.”

Cole started to concentrate, and the windmill started to move, but that wasn’t the only thing. The porch swing and the windchimes also started to move. 

“Dude! You are so Amityville.” Dean was grinning at Cole.

“This isn't even the good stuff.” Cole gestured for us to follow him inside.

Once we were in the living room, Cole turned around and punched Sam in the stomach. Sam doubled over. “If you wanna hit something, you gotta get mad.”

“Yeah, got it.” Sam groaned out. 

Cole turned to Dean. “Now you try. Hit me.”

Dean held his hands up. “Ah, I think I'll stick to just picking on somebody my own size.”

Cole backhanded Dean. Sam and I laughed at Dean getting hit by a twelve-year-old. 

“Hit me as hard as you can.” Cole turned back to Sam.

“I won't do Fight Club with a 12-year-old.”

Cole gave Sam a nice right hook. That riled Sam up. 

“All right, cut it out.”

“Make me.” Cole taunted. He tried for a left hook, but Sam blocked it. Sam tried to punch Cole back, but Cole vanished on him. 

I took the opportunity to punch Dean in the shoulder. 

“Hey!”

“That’s for all the drills you made me do during training.”

Cole popped back up on the other side of the room. 

Dean rubbed his shoulder. “Whoa, whoa, you gotta teach us that.”

\---------------------------

“Place looks like New Jack City.”

Cole had given us directions to the funeral home. It was covered in sigils and glowing like a light display in the dark.

“Can nobody see this?” Dean had a point, the symbols were rather obvious. 

“Maybe it's demon invisible ink. Only see it in the veil.”

“Any idea what it's for?”

“We'll find out.” Sam led us to an open side door. 

There was nothing in the back area, so the boys and I made our way to the viewing room. Sam stopped us before we could get to the doorway. Inside, Tessa and another man, presumably another reaper, lay inside a ritual symbol. A demon was guarding them. 

“Dude, check me out.” Dean disappeared, and he reappeared behind the demon. Dean tapped him on the shoulder and the demon turned around, just in time to meet Dean’s fist. 

The demon spun around, but Dean had disappeared again. Sam and I popped up behind him and started to beat the demon up. 

“Well, you know, this ghost thing, it's kind of rad,” Dean commented as he joined back in. 

We managed to make the demon retreat behind a casket, but before we could continue, another demon came running in with a long chain. The two demons managed to connect the chain in a circle, trapping the boys and me inside. 

“It's iron,” Sam pointed out. 

Even knowing that, I tried to touch the chain. I jerked my hand back as the metal burned me. “Kriff!” I cradled my hand to my chest. 

We all looked up at the sound of footsteps. Another man came in. “Boys. Find the place okay?” After a second, I realized where I had heard the voice before. It was Alistair. Slimy was the best way to describe the demon’s voice.

Another demon handed Alistair a shotgun. He pointed it at Dean and shot him. Dean was forced to disperse, as the rounds were rock salt. 

“Rock salt's not so much fun anymore, is it?” Alistair quipped to Sam and me. 

Dean reappeared with a groan. “Alastair. You bastard.”

Alistair ignored Dean and kept his eyes on Sam. “ Well, go on. Why don't you try some of your power on me now, hotshot?”

Sam clenched his jaw. I could tell he was trying, but it wasn’t working. 

“It's hard to get it up when you're not wearing your meat, huh?”

“Go to hell.”

Alistair sighed. “Oh, if only I could. But they just keep sending me back up to this Arctic crap hole.”

“To kill Death?”

“No, to kill Death twice.” Alistair glanced back at the two prone reapers. “It takes two to break a seal. I figured another one would show up, you know. They're like lemmings.”

He turned back to us and shot Sam. “By the way, it's good to see you again, Dean.”

Dean glared at Alistair. “You can shoot us all you want, but you can't kill us.”

Sam reappeared with a groan. 

“Ah. That so?” Alistair set down the shotgun. “Anywho, the moon's in the right spot. The board is set. Let's get started, shall we?” The demon pulled out a hand-held scythe. 

“You gonna kill a Reaper with that,” Dean scoffed. “It's a little on the nose, don't you think? 

“Is it? An old friend lent it to me.” Alistair walked closer to Dean. “You know, he doesn't really ride a pale horse. But he does have three amigos. And they're just jonesing for the Apocalypse.”

He turned around and started to move towards the reapers. Then, he knelt beside the older one. “It pays to have friends in low places. Don't you think?”

Alistair jerked the reaper up, to get the scythe under his neck. He started chanting in Latin. Once he was finished. Alistair pulled back on the scythe and slitting the reaper’s throat. Lightning flashed and a strong wind blew through the building. 

I caught Sam glancing at Dean and me from the corner of my eye. He was looking at the chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, right over Alistair. It was iron. 

Alistair stepped over the reaper’s body and moved on to Tessa. He pulled her by the hair into a kneeling position. The chant started up again. Sam and Dean were staring at the chandelier, concentrating. Once I caught on, I added my efforts to theirs. 

The chandelier came crashing down. It scraped through the ritual symbol on the floor, breaking it. Tessa disappeared from Alistair’s grasp, only to reappear and break the chain circle trapping us. 

“Bye-bye,” Dean snarked as all four of us flickered away.

\---------------------------

Only Tessa, Dean and I appeared on the street. 

“Where's your brother?”

“We'll find him. You get out of here.” 

Tessa flickered away, and Dean and I set out to look for Sam. 

We had just rounded the corner of an alley when Dean caught sight of Alistair. Dean froze.

“You can't run, Dean. Not from me. I'm inside that angsty little noggin of yours.” Alistair was stalking towards us, but before he could reach us, lightning came down and hit Alistair. He disappeared. 

“What the hell?”

“Guess again.” I felt it when Castiel landed behind Dean and me. 

Dean sent a questioning look at the angel. “What just happened?”

Castiel explained. “You, Jade, and Sam just saved a seal. We captured Alastair. Dean, this was a victory.”

“Well, no thanks to you.”

Cas had his signature squinty-eyed look on his face as he tilted his head. He didn’t understand. “What makes you say that?”

“ You were here the whole time,” Dean stated more than asked. 

“Enough of it.”

“Well, thanks for your help with the rock salt.”

“That script on the funeral home, we couldn't penetrate it.” Cas looked away, as if ashamed. 

“Dean connected the dots. “That was angel-proofing.”

Castiel nodded. “Why do you think I recruited you all in the first place?”

_ “You _ recruited us.”

“ That wasn't your friend Bobby who called, Dean. It wasn't Bobby who told Sam about the seal.”

“That was you.” Dean got angry at being used like that. “If you want our help, why the hell didn't you just ask?”

“Because whatever I ask you seem to do the exact opposite.”

Dean didn’t have a good response to that, so he changed the subject. “What now? People in this town, they just gonna start dying again?”

“Yes.”

Dean’s brow furrowed. “These are good people. Don't you think you can make a few exceptions?”

“ To everything, there is a season.” Castiel sighed. 

“You made an exception for me.”

That gave Cas pause. “You're different.”

Before Dean could say anymore, Castiel flew away, and Tessa appeared. 

“Dean? I could use your help.”

\---------------------------

“Hey, Cole.” Dean approached the kid. Cole had been watching his mother. 

“Tell your brother thanks for nothing.” Were the first words out of Cole’s mouth. He shot a glare behind Dean at Tessa. 

Tessa stepped forward. “Look at her, Cole. Do you see how unhappy she is?”

Cole turned back to his mother. “That's why I wanna stay with her.” 

“As long as she can feel you, she'll be in pain. Because she can't let go. Because you won't let go of her.”

I could tell Cole was wavering. “ Why won't anybody tell me what's on the other side?”

“Maybe nobody wants to ruin the surprise.”

“That's not an answer.”

Dean sighed and cut back into the conversation. “She won't answer you, Cole. Reapers never do. But trust me. Staying here is a whole lot worse than anything over there.”

“Why?”

“Because one day, your family will be gone. And there'll be nothing left here for you. It's okay to be scared.”

“I'm not scared.”

“We're all scared.” Dean stepped closer to Cole. “That’s the big secret. We're all scared.”

“Are you coming?”

Dean chuckled. “Oh, I'm sure I'll be there sooner than you think.”

Cole glanced one last time at his mom, then walked towards Tessa. She wrapped an arm around him in a hug. Cole returned it and turned into light. Tessa absorbed the light, then turned around to face Dean. 

“Look out for that boy.” Dean’s voice was rough. 

“Look out for yourself, Dean.” 

“What do you mean?”

Tessa moved closer to Dean. “ I've been around death from the get-go. Do you know what I see most? Lies."He's in a better place." "At least they're together now." You all lie to yourselves, Dean. Because like you said deep down, you're all scared. Stop lying to yourself, Dean.”

“What?”

“The angels have something good in store for you. A second chance. Really? Because I'm pretty sure deep down you know something nasty is coming down the road. Trust your instincts, Dean. There's no such thing as miracles.”

“What are you saying?” 

Tessa left without answering Dean. 

I started to hear whispered words of Latin. 

\---------------------------

I bolted upright. I was back at the motel, and Dean was sitting up beside me. Pamela was on the other side of Dean, in the other bed. Sam was sitting next to her. I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of my returned powers. 

Dean was the first to notice. “What happened?”

I looked Pamela over. She was bleeding heavily from her stomach. I closed my eyes again, sad that I couldn’t have prevented it. I opened them after a second. 

“Dean, where's Tessa?” Sam’s eyes betrayed the hope he had that Tessa hadn’t started yet. 

“She's-” Dean didn’t finish his sentence. Everyone knew what he would have said anyways.

“Pamela - I'm so sorry.” Sam turned back to the psychic. “You don't deserve this.”

Pamela laughed wetly. “Yeah, I don't. I told you I didn't want anything to do with this. Do me a favor? Tell that bastard Bobby Singer to go to hell for introducing me to you two in the first place.” She started coughing hard. 

“Take it easy, Pamela. If it's any consolation, you're going to a better place.” No one in the room believed Dean, not even himself. 

Pamela turned sightless eyes to Dean. “You're lying. But what the hell, right? Everybody's got to go at some time. Come here.” She pulled Sam into a hug. 

With my enhanced hearing, I could understand what she whispered. 

“I know what you did to that demon, Sam. I can feel what's inside of you. If you think you have good intentions think again.”

Pamela started coughing violently. She fell back against the head board. 

“Pamela?”

I felt it when she died. 

“Pamela!” Dean turned to his brother. “What did she say to you?”

Sam didn’t answer. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible  
> Flashing- teleporting

“Ruby will meet us outside Cheyenne. She's been tracking some leads.” 

It was the middle of the night, and Sam was in the driver’s seat. We were on the road again after attending Pamela’s funeral. 

“Mm.” Dean was looking out the window. He had been fairly quiet since after the funeral.

Sam huffed. “I know she's not exactly on your Christmas list, but if she can help us get to Lilith-”

“Hey, man, work with Ruby, don't. I don't really give a rat's ass.”

“What's your problem?” Sam turned to his brother, as much as he could while driving. 

Dean finally turned to Sam. “Pamela didn't want anything with this. We dragged her back into it, Sam.”

“She knew what was at stake.” 

“Oh, yeah. Saving the world. And we're doing such a damn good job of it.” I could see Dean’s eyeroll in the rear-view mirror.

“Dean-”

He cut Sam off. “ I'm tired of burying friends, Sam.”

“Look, we catch a fresh trail-”

“ And we follow it. I know. Like I said, I'm just getting tired.” 

“Well, get angry.” 

\------------------------

“Home, crappy home.” 

Dean threw his bag down on one of the beds in the motel room the boys had rented for the night. 

I paused. Given that the lights were off, I was the only one to see the two dark figures in the room. 

Sam flicked the lights on. Dean’s eyes widened. 

“Winchester and Winchester. Plus their little side kick.” 

Uriel and Castiel were standing in the middle of the room. Uriel was standing slightly in front of Castiel this time.

“Hey, Cas,” I greeted. Castiel’s eyes crinkled the slightest bit, letting me know he was happy to see me. (Well, as happy as an angel could get.) I had been praying to him every once in a while, not about anything important, just chatting. 

“Oh, come on,” Dean groaned.

“You are needed.” Uriel was as imperious as ever.

“Needed? We just got back from needed.”

“Now, you mind your tone with me.” Uriel’s voice had a deadly calm to it. 

“No, you mind your damn tone with us.” Dean took a step closer to the angels. 

Sam tried to explain his brother’s crabbiness. 

“We just got back from Pamela's funeral.”

There was no reaction from Uriel.

“Pamela. You know, psychic Pamela? You remember her. Cas, you remember her.

You burned her eyes out. Remember that? Good times. Yeah, then she died saving one of your precious seals. So maybe you can stop pushing us around like chess pieces for five freaking minutes!” By the end of it Dean was yelling. 

“We raised you out of hell for our purposes.” Uriel wasn’t phased. 

“Yeah, what were those, again? What exactly do you want from me?”

“Start with gratitude.”

“Oh.”

“Dean, we know this is difficult to understand.” Castiel tried to be nicer about it.

Uriel negated any placation that Cas was going for. “And we don't care. Now, seven angels have been murdered. All of them from our garrison. The last one was killed tonight.”

That got the boys’ interest. “Demons? How they doing it?” 

“We don't know.”

“I'm sorry, but what do you want us to do about it? A demon with the juice to ice angels has to be out of our league.” Sam couldn’t understand what the angels wanted them to do about the killings. 

“We can handle the demons, thank you very much.”

“Once we find whoever it is,” Cas added. 

“So you need our help hunting a demon?”

Castiel moved forward. “ Not quite. We have Alistair.”

“Great. He should name your trigger man.”

“But he won't talk. Alistair's will is very strong. We've arrived at an impasse.”

Dean sat down on one of the beds. “He's, like, a black belt in torture. I mean, you are out of your league.”

Uriel spoke up again. “That's why we've come to his student. You happen to be the most qualified interrogator we've got.”

Dean bowed his head. 

“Dean, you are our best hope.”

He looked up at the trench-coated angel. “No. No way. You can't ask me to do this, Cas. Not this.”

Uriel bent down a little, so he was eye level with Dean. “Who said anything about asking?”

A few seconds of silence, then Dean, Uriel, and Castiel were gone. 

“ Damn it!” Sam knew he wouldn’t be able to find them.

But I could. I had placed the smallest amount of my energy into the boys when I had first met them. It wasn’t enough to effect them in any way, but it alowed me to locate them anywhere. 

“Sam, I can go to him.”

Sam looked at me. I explained about my energy.

“I can feel where he is. I can’t tell you an exact location, but I can go to him.”

“Ok, great. Then, you can just bring me with you.”

I shook my head. “Not this time. While I can teleport people with me, there are wards surrounding wherever Dean is, and I can’t teleport anyone but myself through those. Going through wards take too much energy to be able to keep ahold of another person. ”

Sam’s face fell. I walked up to him and took his hand. He looked down at me. 

“I’m going to go and watch out for him. You need to figure out a way to locate exactly where he is. Once you do that, come and get us. Understand?”

Sam nodded, resigned. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I gave him a hug, and took a step back. I raised my hand in a wave, then flashed out.

\------------------------

I appeared into what looked like an abandoned factory room. Alistair was chained onto a giant Star of David standing in a devil’s trap. Dean was just shutting the door of the room. I stumbled to a wall and sank down to the ground. Flashing through warding took a lot out of me. 

“Hey, Dean.”

Dean spun around at my voice.He rushed over and crouched down next to me. “Are you okay? How did you get in here?”

“I’m okay, going through wards takes a lot out of me.” I explained the same thing I did to Sam. “He’s coming as fast as he can. I couldn’t give him an exact location.”

Once I assured him I was fine, Dean got up and turned to the metal table I could see. It had torture instruments on it. 

“Is there any way you could go outside? You shouldn’t have to watch this.”

I shook my head. “I’m not in a state to be going anywhere right now, and besides, I’ve seen a lot worse than anything you could do. I won’t think any less of you. Plus, I told your brother I would watch out for you. Can’t do that if I’m outside.”

Dean could tell I wasn’t going to be moved, so he turned back to the table. He braced his hands on it, and seemed to be preparing himself. 

The few moments of silence were broken by Alistair, who had been silent this whole time. I stayed silent, knowing that it was Dean’s battle.

He was laughing, then stopped sobered. “I'm sorry. This is a very serious, very emotional situation for you. I shouldn't laugh, it's just that I mean, are they serious? They sent you to torture me?”

“You got one chance. One. Tell me who's killing the angels. I want a name.” Dean started to sift through the instruments. 

“You think I'll see all your scary toys and spill my guts?”

Dean huffed. “Oh, you'll spill your guts, one way or another. I just didn't wanna ruin my shoes. Now answer the question.”

“Or what? You'll work me over? But then, maybe you don't want to. Maybe you're scared to,” Alistair taunted.

“I'm here, aren't I?”

“Not entirely. You left part of yourself back in the pit. Let's see if we can get the two of you back together again, shall we?” Alistair hissed. 

“You're gonna be disappointed.” Dean started to prepare something on the table. I couldn’t see from my vantage point on the ground.

Alistair watched passively, not that he could do much anyways. “You have not disappointed me so far. Come on. You gotta want a little payback for everything I did to you. For all the pokes and prods.” Dean ignored him. Alistair tried a different tactic. “Hmm? No? Um, how about for all the things I did to your daddy? I can still smell them. I had your pop on my rack for close to a century.”

“You can't stall forever.” Dean was familiarizing himself with his tools. 

“John Winchester. Made a good name for himself. A hundred years. After each session, I'd make him the same offer I made you. I'd put down my blade if he picked one up.”

“Just give me the demon's name, Alistair.” 

“But he said no each and every time. Oh, damned if I couldn't break him. Pulled out all the stops, but John he was, well, made of something unique. The stuff of heroes. And then came Dean. Dean Winchester. I thought I was up against it again. But daddy's little girl, he broke.

He broke in 30. Oh, just not the man your daddy wanted you to be, huh, Dean?”

Dean started to pour holy water into a small pail. 

“Now now we're getting somewhere. Holy water? Come on. Grasshopper, you're gonna have to get creative to impress me.”

“You know something, Alistair? I could still dream, even in hell. And over and over and over, you know what I dreamt? I dreamt of this moment. And believe me I got a few ideas. Let's get started.” He assembled a syringe and filled it with holy water. 

He advanced towards Alistair and got to it. 

I was tired after the jump, so I drifted in and out of sleep. Alistair only stopped screaming for as long as it took Dean to prepare another device. 

\------------------------

It was several hours later when I woke up fully. Dean had just finished another round with Alistair.

He turned back to Alistair. “Let me know if you want some more. There's plenty left.”

“Go directly to hell,” Alistair ground out. “Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.”

Dean just smirked. He pulled out the demon knife and started to douse it in holy water. 

Alistair zeroed in on the blade. “There's that little pig-poker. I wondered where it went. Do you really think this is gonna fix you? Give you closure? Oh. That is sad. That's really sad. Sad, sad.”

During Alistair’s mini-speech, Dean had walked up to him. Dean plunged the knife in between Alistair's ribs. 

“I carved you into a new animal, Dean.” Alistair hissed out. “There is no going back.”

Dean forcefully twisted the blade. “Maybe you're right. But now it's my turn to carve.”

Over Alistair’s groans, I started to hear the faintest sound of dripping water. I knew what it meant, and almost stopped it, but held myself back. I couldn’t interfere. 

\------------------------

Dean finished with the knife a couple hours later. He grabbed Alistair's drooping head. 

I had rested enough and stood up. I stayed in the shadows, so Alistair didn’t notice me. He was too focused on Dean. 

Alistair grinned, blood soaking his teeth. “You know. It your professionalism I respect. You’re just not getting deep enough. Well, you lack the resources. Reality is just, I don't know, too concrete up here. Honestly, Dean you have no idea how bad it really was and what you really did for us.”

Dean poured salt into a funnel, and brought it over. “Shut up.”

“The whole bloody thing, Dean. The reason Lilith wanted you there in the first place.”

“Well, then I'll just make you shut up.” Dean grabbed Alistair's jaw and forced his mouth open. He held the funnel over the gaping hole. 

“Lilith really-” 

Dean let the salt pour out, and it cut Alistair off. 

After all the salt was out, Dean released Alistair’s jaw. Alistair choked and started spitting up salt and blood. 

Once he had managed to clear his throat out enough to speak, he rasped out. “Something caught in my throat. I think it's my throat.”

Dean smirked, inches from Alistair’s face. “Well, strap in because I'm just starting to have fun.” He moved back to the table and took up the knife again. 

“You know, it was supposed to be your father. He was supposed to bring it on. But, in the end, it was you.”

“Bring what on?”

“ Oh, every night, the same offer, remember? Same as your father. And finally you said, "Sign me up." Oh, the first time you picked up my razor, the first time you sliced into that weeping bitch, that was the first seal.”

Dean turned slowly back to Alistair. “You're lying.”

Alistair’s face turned serious. “And it is written that the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break.” 

Dean turned away. 

“We had to break the first seal before any others. Only way to get the dominoes to fall, right? Topple the one at the front of the line. Hmm. When we win, when we bring on the apocalypse and burn this Earth down, we'll owe it all to you, Dean Winchester. Believe me, son I wouldn't lie about this. It's kind of a religious sort of thing with me.” During the speech, the warding had broken, and Alistair got off the star. 

Dean started to speak. “No, I don't think you’re lying. But even if the demons do win, you won't be there to see it.” He turned around, only for Alistair to be right behind him. 

“You should talk to your plumber about the pipes.” Alistair backhanded Dean. 

I took that as my cue to step in. Dean, Alistair, and I started to fight. Even with it being two on one, Alistair was still a decent match. He kept focusing on Dean. Every time I would rip him away, Alistair would fight me off and go back to wailing on Dean. 

At one point, I had been thrown to the ground. Alistair grabbed Dean by the collar and started to repeatedly punch him in his already bloody face. Dean dropped once Alistair released his collar. The reprieve wasn’t long-lasting, as Alistair grabbed Dean by the throat and pinned him to the metal Star of David. Alistair started to raise Dean off his feet.

“You got a lot to learn, boy. So I'll see you back in class bright and early, Monday morning.”

Dean was about to pass out when Castiel arrived. Dean fell to the floor. I rushed over to him. 

“Well, almost. Looks like God is on my side today,” Castiel commented. 

They started to fight. I crouched over Dean, ready to protect him in his vulnerable state. 

“You’re like roaches, you celestials. Now, I really wish I knew how to kill you. But all I can do is send you back to heaven.” Alistair had Cas by the throat. He started to chant in Latin. Cas’s vessel started to glow from the eyes and mouth. But, before he could finish, Alistair gagged and was thrown into the wall and held there by an invisible force. 

Cas stumbled back, out of my line of vision, to show Sam with his hand raised. Sam started to question Alistair. 

“Who's murdering the angels? How are they doing it?”

“You think I'm gonna tell you?” Alistair got out.

“Yeah, I do.” 

Sam twisted his hand, and Alistair’s eyes rolled back to show the whites only. He started gagging. 

“How are the demons killing angels,” Sam repeated. 

“I don't know.” 

“Right.” Sam twisted his hand more.

Alistair yelled. “It's not us! We're not doing it!”

I could barely understand his words between his groans and shouts of pain.

“I don't believe you.” Sam dropped his hand to let Alistair speak, while still keeping him pinned to the wall. I added my power to his. Alistair wasn’t going anywhere.

“Lilith is not behind this. She wouldn't kill seven angels.” Alistair’s eyes turned back to normal. “Oh, she'd kill a hundred, a thousand. Go ahead. Send me back, if you can.” 

“I'm stronger than that now. Now I can kill.” Sam raised his hand again, this time palm forward. 

Alistair threw his head back and started to scream. His chest lit up with light. I could see his ribs. After a few seconds, the light went out and Alistair went limp. I released the body. Sam was panting with exertion, but he was smirking. 

\------------------------

Dean had been injured enough that Sam had wanted him in a hospital. I was also injured, though the gashes and hairline fracture would heal up fine without needing stitches or a cast. 

Once the doctors were done treating him, we were given a private room. Dean had a breathing tube in and was sedated on the pain meds. 

We were watching Dean sleep in the hospital bed when Castiel appeared in the doorway. He walked past, and Sam got up to follow him into the hall. I stayed with Dean, but I could still hear them.

“Sam-”

Sam cut him off. “Get in there and heal him. Miracle, now.”

“I can't.”

Sam couldn’t accept that. “You and Uriel put him in there-”

“- No.”

Sam spoke over him. “- because you can't keep a simple devil's trap.”

“I don't know what happened. That trap - it shouldn't have broken. I am sorry.”

Sam was enraged. “This whole thing was pointless. You understand that? The demons aren't doing the hits. Something else is killing your soldiers.”

“Perhaps Alastair was lying.” Even I could tell Castiel’s protests were weak.

“No, he wasn't.” 

Sam came back into the room and took his seat again. 

\------------------------

“Hello.”

I blinked at Castiel’s appearance. I had been watching him. The rest I had gotten at the factory was enough for me to be able to stay awake for a couple of days, much less through one night. 

Dean woke up as well. He was better, with a cannula substituted for the breathing tube. 

“Are you all right?” Castiel’s voice was quiet, so as to not wake Sam.

“No thanks to you.” Dean croaked out. His throat was heavily bruised from Alistair choking him. 

“You need to be more careful.”

“You need to learn how to manage a damn devil's trap,” Dean retorted. 

“That's not what I mean. Uriel is dead.”

“Good.” Castiel shot me a look, but I didn’t explain.

The statement got Dean’s attention, though. “Was it the demons?”

“It was disobedience. He was working against us.”

Dean was silent for a few moments, but then he spoke again. “Is it true? Did I break the first seal? Did I start all this?”

Castiel nodded. “ Yes. When we discovered Lilith's plan for you we laid siege to hell and we fought our way to get to you before you-”

“Jump-started the apocalypse,” Dean cut in.

“And we were too late.”

Dean wasn’t looking at either of us. “Why didn't you just leave me there, then?”

“It's not blame that falls on you, Dean it's fate. The righteous man who begins it is the only one who can finish it.” Cas caught Dean’s eye. “You have to stop it.” 

“Lucifer? The apocalypse? What does that mean?”

Castiel didn’t answer. 

Dean apparently saw something in Cas’s eyes. “Hey. Don't you go disappearing on me, you son of a bitch. What does that mean?”

Castiel stayed. “I don't know.”

“Bull.”

“I don't. Dean, they don't tell me much. I know our fate rests with you.”

Dean gave a weak laugh. “Well, then you guys are screwed. I can't do it, Cas. It's too big. Alastair was right. I'm not all here. I'm not strong enough.” He had tears in his eyes. “Well, I guess I'm not the man either of our dads wanted me to be. Find someone else. It's not me.” 

I placed a hand over his. Cas just looked sad, and flew away.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“Uh, can I help you?”

We were at a book store looking into a possible ghost case. A couple of day’s ago, Dean and Sam had been sent to another reality by an angle named Zachariah. They needed a little normal. 

“Sure hope so. Agents DeYoung, Shaw, and Granger. Just need to ask you a few questions.”

We all flashed our badges at the man behind the counter. 

Sam started the usual round of questions. “Anything strange in the building last couple of days?”

“Like what?”

“Some tenants reported flickering lights.”

The man shook his head. “I don't think so. Why?”

“ What about noises? Any skittering in the walls, kind of like rats?”

“ And the FBI is investigating a rodent problem?”

“ What about cold spots? Feel any sudden drops in temperature?”

At that, the mans face broke into a grin. “ I knew it. You guys are LARPing, aren't you?”

“Excuse me?” The boys had no idea what that was. I did, and it told me what events were coming up. 

_ ‘Oh, lovely. Chuck.’ _

“ You're fans.” The man was getting excited. The boys weren’t. 

“Fans of what?”

“ - What is LARPing?”

The man waved his hand. “Like you don't know. Live-action-role-playing. And pretty hardcore too.”

“You got us. We are.” I dropped my official airs. The boys were staring at me as if I had just flashed them black eyes. “My friends are really hardcore, and don’t like dropping out once they’ve started.”

I gave the boys a look that asked them to play along. They did, even if they were a little confused. 

“We were wondering if you had any copies of the series.”

The man nodded and got up. He led us over to a table that had the sign ‘bargain-bin’ on it. “Supernatural. Let's see. Um, ah. There. That's the first one, I think.” He handed it to Dean. 

“Supernatural, By Carver Edlund. Along a lonely California highway a mysterious woman in white lures men to their deaths,” Dean read the blurb at the back of the book.

“Give me that.” Sam snatched the book from his brother’s hands. After a few seconds of flipping through the book, “We're gonna need all the copies of Supernatural you got.”

\------------------------

“This is freaking insane. How's this guy know all this stuff?” Dean was in the middle of a book.

We were all back at the motel room. Sam and Dean had called in another hunter to take care of the possible ghost problem. They felt that investigating the book series was more important, and so did I. 

“You got me.” Sam was on his laptop. 

Dean threw the book down. “Everything is in here. I mean, everything. From the racist truck to me having sex. I'm full-frontal in here, dude. How come we haven't heard of them before? And for that matter, how did you know about them?” He looked at me. 

“Spoilers.” I did air-quotes as I said it. I was watching Sam scroll around on websites. 

Dean huffed but knew he wasn’t going to get anything more out of me. 

Sam answered Dean’s question. “They were pretty obscure. I mean, almost zero circulation. It started in '05. The publisher put out a couple dozen before going bankrupt. And the last one, ‘No Rest for the Wicked’ ends with you going to hell.”

Dean came over and took a seat at the table.“Well, I reiterate. Freaking insane.” He took control of the laptop. “Oh, check it out, there are actually fans. Not many of them, but still. You read this?”

“Yeah.”

Dean kept scrolling. “ For fans, they do complain a lot. Listen to this. Simpatico says, "The demon story line is trite, clichéd and overall craptastic.” Dean frowned at the screen. “Yeah, well, screw you, Simpatico, we lived it.”

Sam chuckled. “Yeah. Well, keep on reading. Gets better.”

I watched as Dean scrolled down the website. “There are Sam Girls and Dean Girls and- What's a slash fan?”

I took over the explanation at that point. “As in Sam-slash-Dean. Together.”

“Like, "together" together?” Dean screwed his face up in disgust. 

“Yeah.”

“They do know we're brothers, right?”

I shrugged. “Doesn't seem to matter.”

“Oh, come on. That- That's just sick.” Dean closed the laptop. 

“Yeah. Well, when it comes to incest, most fangirls don’t like it, though a few do. I personally don’t ship it. One, it’s gross. Two, Dean belongs with someone else. I haven’t decided on Sam yet.”

“Who?” Dean turned towards me. 

“Shan’t tell.” I had a Cheshire cat grin on my face. 

Dean frowned and changed the subject. “We gotta find this Carver Edlund.”

“That might not be so easy,” Sam told him. 

“Why not?”

“No tax records, no known address. Looks like Carver Edlund is a pen name.”

Dean threw his hands up. “Somebody's gotta know who he is.”

\------------------------

“So you published the Supernatural books?”

Sam had managed to track down the publisher of the Supernatural books. It was a young lady. Her house had posters from the book everywhere. 

“Yup. Yeah. Gosh, these books. They never really got the attention they deserved. All anybody wants to read anymore is that romance crap. You know, Dr. Sexy, M.D.? - Please.”

“Right. Well, we're hoping that our article can shine a light on an underappreciated series.”

We were posing as reporters to a “little heard-of, but well-read newspaper.”

The publisher was excited. “Yeah. If we got a little bit of good press, then maybe we could start publishing again.”

“No, no, no. God, no. Why would you wanna do that?”

The publisher lady gave Dean a weird look, so Dean scrambled for an explanation.

“You know, it's such a complete series what with Dean going to hell and all.”

The lady clutched at her heart, immediately brightening. “Oh my God, that was one of my favorite ones because Dean was so strong and sad and brave. And Sam- I mean, the best parts are when they cry. You know, like in Heart, when Sam had to kill Madison, the first woman since Jessica he really loved. And in Home, when Dean had to call John and ask him for help.”

“What the-?” Dean mouthed at us when she looked away. I smirked. 

“Gosh. If only real men were so open and in touch with their feelings.”

“Real men?” Dean sounded slightly offended. 

The publisher turned around fo face us. “Uh- I mean, no offense, but how often do you cry like that?”

“Well, right now, I'm crying on the inside.” 

“Is that supposed to be funny?” Now the lady was offended. 

“Lady, this whole thing is funny.”

That raised her suspicion. “How do I know you three are legit, hm?” She moved behind her desk. 

“ Oh, trust me. We, uh- We're legit.” Dean moved forward as well. 

“Don't want any smart-ass article making fun of my boys.”

“No, no, no. Never. No, that's- We are actually, um big fans.” Sam tried to cover for Dean. 

“Hm. You've read the books.” The lady raised an eyebrow. 

“Cover to cover.” Dean plastered on a fake smile. 

She started to shoot rapid-fire questions. “What's the year and model of the car?”

“1967 Chevy Impala.”

“What's May 2nd?”

“That's my- That's Sam's birthday.” Sam quickly covered his slip up. 

“January 24th is Dean's.” I pipped up. 

“Sam's score on the LSAT?”

It took Sam a moment but he managed. “ One seventy-four.”

“Dean's favorite song?”

“ It's a tie. Between Zep's "Rambling On" and "Traveling Riverside Blues.”

The publisher’s smile returned full force. “Okay. Okay. What do you wanna know?”

“ What's Carver Edlund's real name?” Sam got down to business. 

The publisher clammed up. “Oh, no. No, sorry, I can't do that.”

“We just wanna talk to him. Get the Supernatural story in his own words,” Sam coaxed. 

She stalled a little. “He's very private. Just like Salinger.”

“Please. Like I said, we are, um,” Sam unbuttoned his shirt a little and pulled it down to show his anti- possession tattoo. “big, big fans.”

Dean and I did the same, but I pulled my shirt up to show it on my hip. 

The publisher smiled and stood up. “Awesome. One sec. You know what? I got one too.” 

She dropped her skirt. I closed my eyes when I realized what she was doing. Let’s just say her tattoo wasn’t above the hips. 

“Wow, you are a fan.” Dean was staring blatantly. 

“Ha. Wow. Okay.” She got out a pen and paper and rote down an address. “His name's Chuck Shurley. And he's a genius, so don't piss him off.”

\------------------------

We walked up to an old ramshackle house and Dean rang the doorbell. A man, who looked like he hadn’t left his house for a week, answered the door. 

“You Chuck Shurley?”

“The Chuck Shurley who wrote the Supernatural books,” Sam added. 

“Maybe. Why?” Chuck squinted in the sun.

“I'm Dean. This is Sam. The Dean and Sam you've been writing about.” Dean was blunt. 

Chuck didn’t say anything and just shut the door. Dean rang the bell again. Chuck opened the door, again. 

“Yeah. Look, uh, I appreciate your enthusiasm. Really, I do. It's always nice to hear from the fans. But for your own good, I strongly suggest you get a life.” He went to close the door, but Dean stopped it with a hand on the door. 

“See, here's the thing. We have a life. You've been using it to write your books.” He pushed inside. Sam and I followed Dean in. 

“Wait a minute. Now, this isn't funny.” Chuck stumbled back. 

“Damn straight, it's not funny. How you're doing it?”

“I'm not doing anything.”

“Are you a hunter?”

“What? No, I'm a writer.” Chuck had backed up so much that he fell onto his worn-out couch. 

“Then how do you know so much about demons and tulpas and changelings?”

The boys weren’t getting through to Chuck. “Is this some kind of Misery thing? - It is, isn't it? It's a Misery thing.”

I didn’t get the reference, but Dean did. “It's not a Misery thing. We are not fans.”

“Well, then what do you want?”

Sam spoke slower. “I'm Sam, that's Dean, and that’s Jade.”

“Sam and Dean are fictional characters. I made them up. They're not real.” 

Dean and Sam shared a look. Dean grabbed Chuck by the arm and dragged him outside. 

Dean let Chuck’s arm go and opened Baby’s trunk. 

Chuck caught a look at what was inside. “Are those real guns?”

“ Yup. This is real rock salt, these are real fake IDs. Heh.” Dean chuckled at the oxymoron. 

Chuck laughed nervously. “I gotta hand it to you guys. You really are my number one fans. That's awesome. So there's- I think I've got some posters in the house.” He started to move back towards his house. 

  
  


“Chuck, stop. Wait.” Dean shut the trunk and walked after him. 

“Please, don't hurt me.” Chuck froze. 

“How much do you know?”

“Do you know about the angels? Or Lilith breaking seals?”

That got Chuck’s attention. “How do you know about that?”

“Question is how do  _ you _ ?”

“Because I wrote it.”

The boys shared another look. 

“You kept writing?”

Chuck nodded. “Yeah. Even after the publisher went bankrupt. But those books never came out. Okay, wait. Heh, heh, heh. This is some kind of joke, right? Did that-? Did Phil put you up to this?”

“Well, nice to meet you. I'm Dean Winchester and this is my brother, Sam. The Pixi over there is Jade.”

“Last names were never in the books. I never told anybody about that. I never even wrote that down. Plus, I never wrote about you- I mean a character named Jade.” Chuck stared at me warily. To even the best of profilers, it looked like he was just wary of a stranger, but I could see the little spark of confusion/anger at my unexpected presence.

“Oh, you didn’t. Just call me a self-insert.” I smirked and stared at Chuck. He was on the shorter side, so I didn’t have to tilt my head up at all. 

\------------------------

“Oh! Oh, you're still there.”

We had all sat down by that point, and Chuck was drinking some booze.

“Yup.”

Chuck moved to sit at his cluttered desk. “You're not a hallucination. Well, there's only one explanation. Obviously, I'm a god.” He put his head in his hands.

I snorted. But, the boys took it as a snort of laughter at the absurdity of the explanation, not the irony of the statement. 

_ ‘Oh, how right you are, Chuck’ _

“You're not a god.” Dean deadpanned. 

“How else do you explain it? I write things and then they come to life. Yeah, no, I'm definitely a god. A cruel, cruel, capricious god. The things I put you through. The physical beatings alone.” Chuck looked pitifully up at the two other men.

“We're still in one piece,” Dean cut in. 

“I killed your father. I burned your mother alive. You had to go through the whole horrific deal again with Jessica.”

Chuck was staring in horror at Sam. I had to hand it to him, he could act. If I didn’t already know, I would have believed him.

“Chuck.”

He was still rambling. “... All for what? All for the sake of literary symmetry. I toyed with your lives, your emotions, for entertainment.”

“You didn't toy with us, Chuck, okay? You didn't create us.” Dean walked closer.

“Did you really have to live through the bugs?”

“Yeah.” Sam nodded.

“What about the ghost ship?”

“Yes, that too.” 

“I am so sorry. I mean, horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing. If I'd known it was real, I would have done another pass.”

“Chuck, you're not a god,” Dean repeated. 

“We think you're probably just psychic.” Sam stood up fully. 

Chuck scoffed and shook his head. “No. If I were psychic, you think I'd be writing? Writing is hard.”

“It seems that somehow you're just focused on our lives.” Sam was still trying to be gentle about the whole thing. 

Dean was less inclined to do so. “Yeah, like laser-focused. Are you working on anything right now?”

Chuck’s head jerked up. “Holy crap.”

“What?”

“The latest book. It's, uh- It's kind of weird.” He shuffled through the mess on his desk and pulled out a sheaf of papers. 

“Weird how?”

“It's very Vonnegut.”

Dean leaned on the desk. “Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut or Cat's Cradle Vonnegut?”

Sam shot his brother a look. Chuck understood, though. 

“It's Kilgore Trout Vonnegut. I wrote myself into it. I wrote myself at my house confronted by my characters.”

\------------------------

“I'm in a Laundromat, reading about myself in a Laundromat - reading about myself.

My head hurts.

After Chuck’s revelation, Sam and Dean decided that they needed to think things over. Dean took Chuck’s newest writings, though.

“There's something this guy's not telling us.” Sam was actually doing some laundry. 

_ ‘You got that right, Sammy.’ _

“Sam tossed his gigantic darks into the machine. He was starting to doubt Chuck, whether he was telling the whole truth.” Dean was reading from the papers. 

“Stop it.”

“Stop it,' Sam said.’ Guess what you do next.” Dean went back to reading as Sam turned away. "Sam turned his back on Dean, his face brooding and pensive." I don't know how, but this guy is doing it. I can't see your face but those are definitely your brooding and pensive shoulders.” Dean frowned as he read some more. “You just thought I was a dick.”

Sam turned around. “Huh. Guy's good.”

\------------------------

“So you wrote another chapter?”

We had returned to Chuck’s house. He was sitting at his desk, typing. 

“This was easier before you were real.”

“We can take it. Just spit it out.”

“You especially are not gonna like this.” Chuck pointed at Dean. 

Dean shrugged. “I didn't like hell.”

Chuck let out a breath, then started. “It's Lilith. She's coming for Sam.”

“Coming to kill him?”That got Dean’s protective instincts up. “When?”

“Tonight.”

  
  


“She's just gonna show up? Here?”

“See, it's, uh-” Chuck gave up trying to explain, and just handed the papers to Dean. 

"Lilith patted the bed seductively. Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion," Dean read.

Sam started to laugh. “You're kidding me?”

“You think this is funny?”

Sam looked at his brother. “You don't? I mean, come on."Fiery demonic passion?" 

“It's just a first draft.” Chuck looked almost offended. 

“It's not-”

“- Wait, wait, wait.” Dean cut Chuck off as he realized something. “Lilith is a little girl.”

Chuck shook his head. “No. This time, she's a "comely dental hygienist from Bloomington, Indiana." 

Dean threw his hands up. “Great. Perfect. So, what happens after the fiery demonic whatever?”

“I don't know. It hasn't come to me yet.” Chuck was looking distinctly uncomfortable with everything.

Sam turned to Dean. “Dean, look, there's nothing to worry about. Lilith and me? In bed?” He raised an eyebrow showing exactly what he thought of  _ that  _ scenario.

Dean ignored him. “How does this whole psychic thing work, Chuck?”

“You mean my process?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “ Yes, your process.”

Chuck rubbed at his face. “Well, it usually starts with a headache. A really bad headache. Aspirin is useless, so I drink until I fall asleep. At first, I thought it was just a crazy dream.”

“First time you dreamt about us,” Dean prompted. 

Chuck nodded. “It flowed. It just- It kept flowing. It still does. I can't stop it, really.”

Sam was getting irritated at being ignored. “You can't seriously believe-”

Dean threw a hand out to cut him off. “Humor me.”

“Look, why don't we-? We just- Take a look at these and see what's what.” Dean looked down as Chuck held up another sheaf of papers before Dean was done speaking. 

“You-”

“- Knew you were gonna ask for that? Yeah.” 

Dean took the papers anyway.

\------------------------

We were on our way out of town. The boys were discussing Chuck’s writing. I was content to watch them talk it out. 

“Dean, come on. "The minivan accident wasn't that bad, but Dean was still seeing stars. He scratched absently at the pink flower Band-Aids on his face.” Sam read some of the newest chapters. 

"So?” 

“So I've seen you gushing blood. You'd use duct tape and bar rags before you'd put on a pink flower Band-Aid.”

“What's your point?”

Sam was still irritated. “ My point is this all of this is totally implausible. It's nuts.”

Dean shrugged. “He's been right about everything. You think he'll ground out at first now?”

Sam turned back to the papers. “Dean slid behind the wheel of his beloved Impala and drove off, the plastic tarp on the rear window flapping like the wings of a crow."

“A tarp?” Dean’s proverbial hackles rose at the thought of Baby getting hurt. 

“Yeah, on the rear window. You drive it like that.”

“Might be wrong about the details. Doesn't mean he's wrong about the result.” Dean turned back to face the road.

“We just run?”

Dean glared at his brother. “Dude, we are a long way from ready for a face-to-face death match with Lilith.

Dean slowed the car down at the roadblock in front of us. 

“What seems to be the problem?” Dean asked the sheriff that came to the window. 

“Bridge is out ahead.” 

I checked to see if the sheriff was a demon, just in case. Nope, just a regular cop.

“We're just trying to get out of town.”

The sheriff shook his head. “ Afraid not.”

Dean tried a different approach. “Is there a detour? No sideroad to the highway?”

“Nope. To get to the highway, you cross that river. To cross the river, you take that bridge.”

“How deep's the river?”

“Sorry. Afraid you boys have to spend the night in town.”

Sam and Dean traded glances. 

\------------------------

The boys and I were at a diner for supper. They were still talking about the book. 

Dean was trying to be optimistic. “Hey, this could be a good thing. If this is what puts us on the path to Lilith, then all we gotta do is get off the path.”

Sam set his menu for a second. “How do you mean?”

“It's a blueprint of what not to do. I mean, if the pages say that we go left-”

Sam caught on. “-Then we go right.”

Dean nodded. “Exactly. We get off book, we never make it to the end. It's opposite day. It says that we get into a fight, so no fighting. No research for you.”

Sam turned to me. “Jade, the books don’t mention you at all, so i guess you’re fine to act normally.” He turned back to Dean. “But, it means no bacon cheeseburger for you.”

Dean wilted a little at that, but he nodded.“No problem. I'll order something else.”

“Hey.” The waitress came to our table. 

Dean smiled up at her. “Hi, what's good?”

“Well, if you like burgers, Oprah's girlfriend said we have the best bacon cheeseburgers in the country.”

Sam chuckled. “I'll just have the Cobb salad, please.”

“I'll have the veggie tofu burger.” 

Sam caught Dean’s eye and raised a brow. Dean kept the eyecontact as he handed his menu off to the waitress. 

“I’ll have the Caesar salad with chicken. Thanks.” I handed my menu over as well.

As soon as the waitress was out of earshot, Sam got back on topic. “This is ridiculous.”

“Lilith is ridiculous?”

He nodded. “The idea of me hooking up with her is.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Right. Because something like that could never happen.”

Sam leaned forward. “Dean, for the first time, we have a warning that Lilith is close.”

“So?”

“So we've got the jump on her. If we know when she's coming, we know where- This is an opportunity.

“- Are you-?” Dean cut himself off as he realized he was about to start arguing. He took a breath and began again in a forced-calm tone. “It frustrates me when you say such reckless things.”

Sam responded in kind. “Well, it frustrates me when you'd rather hide than fight.”

Just then the waitress came over with our food. “Cobb salad for you. Caesar with chicken for you. And the tofu veggie burger for you.”

“Thank you.” Dean picked up his burger. “It's not hiding, it's being smart. It's picking your battles. This is a battle that we are not ready to fight.” Dean took a bite. “Oh, my God. This is delicious. Tofu is amazing.”

The waitress came rushing back. “I am so sorry. I gave you the bacon cheeseburger by mistake.” She took Dean’s plate. Dean stared at Sam in disbelief.

\------------------------

“Dude, this place charges by the hour.” 

Dean had pulled into a skeezy looking motel. He had decided we were going to change where we were staying. 

“The book says Lilith finds you at the Red Motel. Hence, the Hooker Inn. It's opposite day, remember?”

Dean got our room and we started unpacking a little. The first thing Dean did was pull out a hex-bag.

“What are you doing?”

“A couple of hex bags ought to Lilith-proof the room.”

“What, I'm supposed to just hole up here all night?”

“That's exactly what you're gonna do, okay? And no research. I don't care what you do. You can use the Magic Fingers or watch Casa Erotica on pay-per-view.” Dean took Sam’s laptop. 

“Oh, dude, come on.”

“Just call it a little insurance.” Dean picked up the keys to the impala.

“What are you gonna do?” Sam gave his brother a questioning look. 

“The pages say I spend all day riding around in the Impala, so I'm gonna go park her. Behave yourself, would you? No homework. Watch some porn.” Dean gestured to the tv.

“I’m going with Dean, Sam. Have fun, I guess.” I followed Dean out.

\------------------------

Dean checked the locks on the door and we turned to walk back to the motel. Once we had crossed the street, Dean looked back to see some punk kids trying to car-jack Baby. 

“Hey!” Dean started to cross the street again, without looking where he was going. I didn’t have time to warn him about the van. It hit Dean full on. 

Dean fell to the ground. I rushed over as the driver got out of the van. It was a lady. She had a little girl with her. 

“I'm so sorry. I just didn't see you guys. Is he going to be alright? ”

I looked Dean over. Besides some minor scrapes on his face, Dean was fine, just stunned a little. The little girl took out some band-aids and started placing them on Dean’s face as I patted Dean to his senses. He groaned. 

The lady knelt down beside us. “Oh, thank God. Just take it easy. You're gonna be okay. I'm so sorry. I just didn't see you guys. Are you okay? And sorry about- You know. My daughter's going through a doctor phase.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“You're better now.” The girl stated. 

Dean caught sight of the Impala, the back window had been smashed in. “Oh, no.” He got up and walked over to the car. I followed him and saw his reaction as he caught his reflection. 

\------------------------

“Dean. Jade.”

Dean and I had made our way back to Chuck’s house. Chuck had just gotten back from the store himself. He didn’t really react to us already being there. 

“I take it you knew we'd be here.”

“You, at least.” Chuck looked at Dean’s face. “You look terrible.”

“That's because I just got hit by a minivan, Chuck.”

Chuck paled at Dean’s tone. “Oh.”

Dean leaned forward in his chair. “That it? Every damn thing you write about me comes true, all you have to say is, "oh.”

“Please don't yell at me.” Chuck cringed and moved to set his groceries down. Not that is was really groceries, it was all booze.

“I get the feeling there's something you're not telling us.” Dean stood up and followed Chuck.    
  


“What wouldn't I tell you?” Chuck was shaking. 

“How you know what you know.” Dean got in Chuck’s face.

“I don't know how I know. I just do.”

“Not good enough.” Dean grabbed Chuck and pinned him against the wall. “How the hell are you doing this?!”

I turned around at the sound of wings. Dean was too occupied to hear them. 

“Dean, let him go!”

Dean turned around and let Chuck go at Castiel’s yell. 

Cas’s voice went back to his normal levels. “This man is to be protected. He's a prophet of the Lord.”

I huffed to myself.  _ ‘Yeah, right.’ _

Chuck cut in. “You-You’re Castiel, aren't you?”

Cas nodded and picked up one of the Supernatural books lying around. “It's an honor to meet you, Chuck. I admire your work.”

Dean held his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, what? This guy? A prophet? Come on. He's practically a Penthouse Forum writer. Did you know about this?” He rounded on Chuck.

“I, uh- I might have dreamt about it.” Chuck sat down and opened a bottle of booze. 

“And you didn't tell us?!”

Chuck poured himself a drink. “It was too preposterous. Not to mention arrogant. I mean, writing yourself into the story is one thing, but as a prophet?” He downed the liquid and went to pour himself another. “That's like M. Night-level douchiness.”

Dean shot a look at Cas. “This guy decides our fate?”

Cas corrected Dean. “He isn't deciding anything. He's a mouthpiece, a conduit for the inspired word.”

“The word? The word of God? Like the New New Testament?” Dean’s face screwed up in incredulousness. 

Castiel nodded. “One day, these books, they'll be known as the Winchester Gospel.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” Dean and Chuck said together. 

“I am not kidding you,” Cas deadpanned. 

Chuck stood up and rushed up the stairs. “If you'll both please excuse me one minute.”

Dean turned back to Cas. “Him? Really?”

“You should have seen Luke.” Cas sounded almost done.

“Why'd he get tapped?” Dean started to pace. 

“I don't know how prophets are chosen. The order comes from high up on the celestial chain of command.”

“How high?” 

Cas gave Dena a look. “Very.”

Dean waved his hand. “Well, whatever. How do we get around this? The Sam-Lilith love connection. How do we stop it from happening?”

“What the prophet has written can't be unwritten. As he has seen it so it shall come to pass.” Castiel’s voice was absolute. 

\------------------------

Dean and I got back to the motel. I started to walk in but stopped after I noticed Dean wasn’t following. He was staring at the motel sign. Instead of the regular words, some of the neon letters had gone out, spelling RED motel. 

Dean stormed into the motel room with me on his heels. “We're getting out of here.”

Sam stood up from the bed. “What? Where?”

Dean was grabbing clothes and gear and stuffing them into duffel bags. “Anywhere, okay? Out of this motel, out of this town. I don't care if we gotta swim. We are getting out.”

I started to pack the few things I had out. 

Dean noticed something was missing. “Dude, where are all the hex bags?”

Sam squared his shoulders. “ - I burned them.” He looked read for the yelling Dean was sure to do. 

Dean paused in his packing. “You what?”

“ Look, if Lilith is coming, which is a big if- “

Surprisingly, it didn’t come immediately. “No, no, no. It's more than an if. Chuck is not a psychic. He's a prophet.”

Sam wasn’t expecting that. “What?”

Dean started to move again. “Cas showed up. And apparently, Chuck is writing the gospel of us.”

“Okay.” 

“Okay. Let's get the hell out of here.”

“No.” Sam wasn’t moving. 

Dean set down the duffel bags he had grabbed. “Lilith will slaughter you.”

“Maybe she will, maybe she won't.”

“You think you can take her?” Dean scoffed.

Sam shrugged. “Only one way to find out and I say bring her on.”

“Sam-”

He cut Dean off. “You think I'll do it, don't you? You think I'll go to the dark side.”

That was the breaking point for Dean. He exploded. “Yes! Okay?! Yes. The way you've been acting lately? The things you've been doing? Oh, I know. How you ripped Alastair apart like it was nothing like you were swatting a fly. Cas told me, okay?”

“What else did he tell you?” Sam’s voice was so quiet, it was almost a whisper. 

It was in sharp contrast to Dean’s raised voice. “Nothing I don't already know. You've been using psychic crap and getting stronger. We just don't know why or how.”

“It's not what you think.”

Dean flung his arms out in exasperation. “Then what is it, Sam? Because I'm at a total loss.”

Sam didn’t answer. 

Dean grabbed the rest of his things and made for the door. “Are you coming or not?”

“No.”

Dean was facing away from Sam, but I could still see his face. At Sam’s denial, he closed his eyes, but he threw down his bag anyways. His decision to stay didn’t stop him from storming out the room, though. I followed him a few seconds later, sending a disappointed look at Sam. 

\------------------------

I found Dean getting a soda at a machine down the parking lot. He noticed me coming over but didn’t say anything. Neither did I.

After a few moments, Dean started to speak, but not to me. 

“Well, I feel stupid doing this but I am fresh out of options. So please I need some help.

I'm praying, okay? Come on. Please.”

I turned at the expected sound of wings. 

Castiel was in his normal (and only) outfit. “Prayer is a sign of faith. This is a good thing, Dean.” He walked closer. 

“So you'll help me?”

Cas sighed. “I'm not sure what I can do.”

“Drag Sam out of here now, before Lilith shows up.” Dean’s eyes were pleading. 

I simply leaned against the wall, listening. 

“It's a prophecy. I can't interfere.”

That wasn’t good enough for Dean. He advanced on Castiel. “You have tested me and thrown me every which way. And I have never asked for anything. Not a damn thing. But now I'm asking. I need your help. Please.”

Cas stepped closer as well. “What you're asking it's not within my power to do.”

“Why, because it's divine prophecy?” Dean really didn’t understand the higher power stuff.

“ - Yes.”

“So, what, we're just supposed to sit around and wait for it to happen?”

“I'm sorry.” Castiel looked at the ground, not meeting Dean’s eyes. 

It was the very last straw for Dean. His voice got deadly calm. “Screw you. You and your mission. Your God. If you don't help me now then when the time comes and you need me don't bother knocking.” He turned away. 

“Dean. Dean.” Cas called him back. 

“What?” 

“You must understand why I can't intercede.” Castiel’s voice took on a quality that I couldn’t identify. “Prophets are special. They're protected.”

“I get that.”

“If anything threatens a prophet,  _ anything  _ at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce. They're absolute. They're heaven's most terrifying weapon.” Castiel’s face was begging Dean to understand. 

I had started to understand after Cas said, “… special.”

“And these archangels, they're tied to prophets?” Now Dean was catching on. 

“Yes.”

“So if a prophet was in the same room as a demon-”

“Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon.” Cas glanced at the sky. “Just so you understand why I can't help.”

“Thanks, Cas.”

“Good luck.” Castiel left the same way he arrived.

\------------------------

  
  


“What are you doing here? I didn't write this.”

Dean and I had gone immediately to Chuck’s house. Chuck startled off his couch as we burst through the door. 

Dean grabbed Chuck’s arm. “Come on. I need you to come with us.”

“What? Where?”

“Motel where Sam is.” Dean started to move towards the door, prophet in tow.

“- That's where Lilith is.”

“Yeah, I need you to stop her.”

Chuck ripped his arm out of Dean’s grip. “Are you insane? Lilith? I know what she's capable of, Dean. I wrote about her.”

Dean sighed and turned fully to Chuck. “All right, listen to me. You have an archangel tethered to you, okay? All you gotta do is show up and boom. Lilith gets smoked.”

“But I haven't seen that yet. The story-”

“Chuck, you're the only shot that I've got left.”

“But I'm just a writer.”

Dean got into Chuck’s face. “This isn't a story anymore, man. This is real. And you're in it. Now, I need you to get off your ass and fight.”

Chuck started moving away.

“Come on, Chuck.” Dean though he was agreeing and headed for the door. 

Chuck wasn’t, and he turned back around. “No frigging way.”

“Then how about this?” Dean pulled his jacket open to show the handle of his gun. “I've got a gun in my pocket and if you don't come with us, I'll blow your brains out.”

“I thought you said I was protected by an archangel.”

Dean tilted his head. “Well, an interesting exercise. Let's see who the quicker draw is.”

\------------------------

We crashed into the motel room, Chuck was in front. Sam was pinned under Lilith on the bed, and she was about to stab him with the demon knife. 

Once Chuck saw Lilith, he stuttered out, “I am the prophet, Chuck.”

Lilith froze, then she stood up. She looked him over and rolled her eyes. “You've got to be joking.”

The whole room started to shake. 

Dean smirked. “Oh, this is no joke. You see, Chuck here's got an archangel on his shoulder.” A white light began to shine through the windows. “You got 10 seconds before this room is full of wrath and you're a piece of charcoal. Sure you wanna tangle with that?”

Lilith smoked out and her vessel fell to the floor. Dean, Sam, and Chuck all stared at the empty vessel. 

\------------------------

“So a deal, huh?”

Sam, Dean, and I were back in the Impala. They had wanted to leave as soon as we got Chuck back home. It was raining, so a tarp was pulled over the broken back window. Sam was explaining what Lilith had offered him. 

“ - That's what she said.”

“- To call the whole thing off. Angels, seals, Lucifer rising, the whole nine?” Dean was trying to understand just exactly the deal entailed.

Sam sighed and nodded. “That was the gist of it.”

Dean paused and tilted his head. “Huh.”

“What?”

“You didn't think once about taking it?” Dean glanced at his brother. 

“You kidding? You just spent all day trying to talk me off the Lilith track.”

Dean held a hand up. “I'm just saying.”

“She would have found some way to weasel out of it.” Sam shook his head. “And all it would have cost us was our lives.”

Dean shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”

“Anyway, that's not the point.”

“What's the point?”

I could see Sam’s face in the rear-view mirror. He was smirking. “Point is she's scared. I could see it. Lilith is running. From what? I don’t know. But she was telling the truth about one thing.”

“What's that?”

“She's not gonna survive the Apocalypse. I'll make sure of that.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

We were parked on the side of the road next to a lake. Dean and Sam had needed a rest from driving, and I didn’t look old enough to drive. 

I was sitting on the hood of Baby, watching the end of the sunrise. Sam was up and brushing his teeth. Dean was still sleeping in the Impala. 

He woke up a few minutes later. Sam looked at his brother as he rolled out of the car.

“How'd you sleep?”

Dean groaned and stretched. “ How do you think? I'm starving. Let's get breakfast.”

“Where? We're, like, two hours from anything.” Sam gestured with his brush to the woodlands surrounding us. 

“But I'm hungry now,” Dean whined. 

Sam sighed. “There's probably still a sandwich in the backseat.”

Dean grabbed the paper bag and gave its contents a sniff. He recoiled. “It's tuna.” 

I sighed and reached into my pocket space. I pulled out a bag of beef jerky. Dean caught it when I threw it to him. 

“Thanks, Jade.”

Before he could say any more, a phone started to ring. Dean opened the glove box and pulled out the offending phone. 

“Isn’�t that Dad's phone?” Sam commented as the phone came into view.

Dean nodded and answered. “Hello?”

The volume was loud enough for me to hear the other end. 

“Uh, is this John?” It sounded like a young man. 

“He can't come to the phone. Can I help you?”

“No, no, no. I really- I need to talk to John. This is Adam Milligan. He knows me.” The young man sounded nervous.

Dean sat on the Impala’s hood. “Well, sorry to break this to you, pal, but John died more than two years ago. Who is this again?”

“I'm his son.”

At that, Dean’s face blanked out. He recovered as the young man on the other end of the line tried to talk to him some more. Dean managed to keep it together long enough to discuss meeting up. As soon as the call ended, He shut the phone and started to fill Sam and I in on the conversation.

\------------------------

We drove the rest of the day. Around three o’clock, we made it to the cafe Dean had arranged for Adam, the young man’s name, to meet us at. 

Once Dean parked, he immediately got out of the car and went to the trunk. Sam started filling us in on what information he could find regarding the boy. 

“Dean, look, the best I can tell, Adam Milligan is real. Born September 29th, 1990, to Kate Milligan. No father listed on the birth certificate. He's an Eagle Scout, graduated from high school with honors and currently goes to the University of Wisconsin, biology major, pre-med-” He cut himself off. “ Dean? You listening?”

Dean shut the trunk after grabbing assorted tools. “This is a trap.”

We made our way inside and picked a back table. Dean and Sam sat on one side, while I took the wall seat on the other, leaving only one place for Adam to sit. 

Sam was till trying to reason with his brother. “Dean, I'm telling you, the kid checks out.”

“Great. So he's an actual person on the planet Earth. Sucks he's got a demon in him.”

The waitress came over and handed out silverware, water, and menus. 

“Hi. Welcome to Cousin Oliver's. Can I-?”

Dean cut her off. “We're actually waiting on somebody. Thank you.”

After the waitress left, Dean took the glass meant for Adam and poured it out into a nearby plant. He started to fill it up again from a flask under the table. 

“What are you-? -Holy water?”

Dean placed the cup back. “ Yup. One sip of Jesus juice, this evil bitch is gonna be in a world of hurt.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “And what if he's not possessed, Dean?”

Dean took Adam’s silverware and replaced it with a solid silver set. “ Then he is a Shapeshifter. Hence, silver. Look, either way, this thing is gonna bleed. I mean, using Dad as bait? That's the last mistake of its short, pitiful life.”

Sam gave his brother a look. 

Dena didn’t understand where it was coming from. “What? What?”

Sam sighed and pulled out their dad’s journal. “Dean, listen. There's an entry in Dad's journal from January of 1990 saying he's headed to Minnesota to check out a case. That's roughly, oh, about nine months before the kid was born.”

Dean shrugged. “Coincidence.”

“Coincidence? The next two pages in the journal were torn out.”

Dean turned to Sam. “You're not actually buying this, are you?”

Sam threw his hands up “I don't wanna believe it. It's possible. I mean, Dad would be gone for weeks at a time, and he wasn't exactly a monk. I mean, a hunter rolls into town, kills a monster, saves the girl, sometimes the girl's grateful.” Sam talked with his hands a little. 

Dean squeezed his eyes shut. “Well, now I'm thinking about Dad sex. Stop talking.”

“- Maybe he slipped one past the goalie.-”

“- Dude.” Dean cut his brother off as Adam walked in the door. Sam had shown us a picture of his school record.

“Adam?” Sam called the boy over. 

“You Sam?” Adam took his seat. 

“Yeah. This is Dean. And that’s Jade.” Sam gestured to us as he made introductions.

“Hey.” Once he settled, he started on the questions. “So, um - how'd you know my dad?”

“We worked together.” It was a half-truth, and Adam seemed to buy it.

“All right. How did he die?”

“On the job.” Dean’s tone was much cooler than Sam’s.

Adam looked between Sam and Dean. “He's a mechanic, right?”

“A car fell on him,” Dean said bluntly. 

The waitress came up again. “Hey, Adam. How’re you doing? The usual?”

Adam gave her a weak smile. “ - Uh, yeah, thanks, Denise.”

She walked away, and Adam took a deep drink of his water. The boys were watching him closely for any signs of a reaction. There was none, and once he was finished, the boys got back to getting answers. 

“So, uh, when's the last time you saw John?”

I could sense Dean pull his gun out under the table. I quickly made the table cloth shift so other people couldn’t see the piece.

Adam shrugged. “ I don't even know. It's been a couple of years.”

“Why'd you decide to call him now?”

“I didn't know who else to call. He's the only family I got.” Adam hesitated, before revealing, “My mom's missing.”

“Really? I'm sorry. For how long?” Sam could at least act sympathetic. 

Dean, on the other hand, could not. “It's tragic, really. But if you're John's kid, how come we've never heard of you?” There was no mistaking the hostility in his voice. 

“ ‘Cause John and I didn't really know each other. Not until a few years ago, anyway.” Now, Adam was starting to bristle at Dean’s tone.

“What do you mean?” Sam’s voice was gentle and soothing. 

It calmed Adam down some. “My mom never talked about him. I knew some stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Dean was just waiting for Adam to show some signs of being a monster. 

Adam explained. “My mom's a nurse, and Dad came into the ER, pretty torn up. He was in a hunting accident or something. I knew his name: John Winchester. That's about it. We're not exactly a nuclear family.”

Sam huffed. “Yeah, who is these days?”

Dean cut Sam off. “So when did you, uh-? When did you finally meet him?”

“When I was 12. My mom had one of his old numbers and after I begged her, God, 24/7, she finally called him. God, when John heard he had a son, he raced to town. I mean, he dropped everything. He drove all night.”

The waitress placed Adam’s food in front of him. “Here you go.”

“Oh, that's heartwarming.” Dean was lying. 

“You mind?” Adam gestured to his food. 

Dean shook his head. “No, please, dig in.”

Adam took the napkin out from under the silverware. Dean cocked his gun under the table. Then, Adam touched the silver utensils with no problem. Dean reluctantly reset the safety and put his gun away.

Adam continued talking while eating. “He would swing by once a year or so, you know…. He called when he could… but still, he taught me poker and pool, even bought me my first beer when I was 15…. And he showed me how to drive. Dad, he had this beautiful '67 Impala.”

The detail about the car broke Dean. He leaned forward. “Oh, this is crap. You know what? You're lying.” He pointed a finger at Adam.

Adam wiped his mouth and replied, “No, I'm not.”

“Oh, yeah, you are.”

Adam leaned forward as well. “Who the hell are you to call me a liar?“

“ We're John Winchester's sons, that's who.” Dean gestured to Sam and himself. “ _ We _ are his sons.”

That stunned Adam out of his anger. “I've got brothers?”

“No, you don't.”

Adam looked hopefully at me. I raised my hands. 

“Don’t look at me. I’m just a family friend.”

Dean ignored me. “Look, I don't know if you're a hunter-”

Adam cut him off. “ - I have never been hunting in my life.”

“Whatever. I'm out of here. Come on, Sam, Jade.” Dean threw down his napkin and left. 

Sam moved to stand up as well, but Adam stopped him with four words. 

“I can prove it.”

\------------------------

“He took you to a baseball game?”

Dean was looking at a picture of Adam and John at a game. Adam had brought us back to his mom’s house to show us the pictures.

Adam nodded. “ - Yeah, when I turned 14. Dad was around for a few of my birthdays.”

“September 29th, 2004. One word: "Minnesota.” Sam was holding up John’s journal.

“He took you to a freaking baseball game?” I could tell Dean wasn’t sure if he was ticked off or sad.

Adam was oblivious. “Yeah. Why? What did Dad do with you on your birthday?”

Dean frowned. 

Sam changed the subject before tensions could rise again. “You said you called Dad because your mom was missing? How long has she been gone?”

“ Three days.”

“Who was the last person to see her?” Dean was warming up to the kid as fast as ice melts in below-freezing weather. 

Adam took the picture from Dean. “Mr. Abbinanti, our neighbor. He saw her come home Tuesday night but she never showed up to work Wednesday.”

“Did you call the police?” Sam was in case mode now.

He nodded. “Mom's supervisor at the hospital did. And then I drove down here as fast as I could. I should have been here.”

“What'd the, uh-?” Dean coughed. “What'd the cops say?”

“They, uh, searched the house. They didn't find anything.”Adm started fidgeting. “She wouldn't leave without telling anybody. It's like she just dropped off the face of the Earth, you know?”

Sam and Dean started poking around the house. Dean and I ended up in Adam’s mom’s room. 

Dean turned around when he heard Adam enter. 

“The, uh, nightstand was knocked over. Was there anything else?”

Adm shrugged. He did that a lot.

“Well, not really. The sheriff said there's no sign of a break-in. What? You think the cops missed something?”

“Maybe. They don't have my eyes.” Dean started to look around some more. 

“You're a mechanic.”

Dean smiled. “Yeah. That's right.” He went back to looking around.

Adam spoke up again after a short while. “Dean, what else can you tell me about Dad?” I could tell he just wanted to break the tension. 

It didn’t really work, as Dean’s answer was as frosty as ever.“ - You knew him.”

“- Not as well as you.” Adam shot back. He almost sounded jealous. 

Dean turned back to Adam. “Trust me, kid, you don't wanna know.”

Sam appeared in the doorway, holding a piece of paper. He gestured for Dean and I to come out into the hall for us to talk.

“Give us a minute.” Dean and I left the room for the hallway. 

Sam, Dean, and I went down the hall just enough so that Adam couldn’t hear.

Dean nodded at the papers Sam held. “Talk to the cops?”

“Yeah. As Adam said, no leads on his mom.”

“Hm. Shocker there.”

Sam held up a hand and handed Dean the piece of paper. It was a newspaper clipping. “But I did find this. Here. In 1990, there were 17 grave robberies in Windom.”

Dean skimmed the article over. “Think that's why Dad came through here?”

“I'd say so. Check it out.” Sam pointed to a figure in the photo. It was grainy, but I could tell it was a younger-looking John. 

Dean huffed. “So he was hunting something. What?”

Sam shook his head. “ No idea. Those were the pages he tore out. Last month, the corpse snatching started again. Three bodies from the local cemetery.”

“So whatever he was after, he didn't kill it. It's back.”

“What, it stepped up its game to fresh meat? I mean, Kate's missing and so is the local bartender.” Sam swapped the article for a missing person flyer of a middle-aged man..” A guy named Joe Barton.”

Dean popped back into Adam’s mom’s room and showed the picture to Adam. Adam was sitting on the bed. 

“Hey, does your mom know Joe Barton?”

Adam shrugged. “I don't think so. Why?”

Before anyone could answer, Dean spotted something under the bed frame. He crouched down to look under the bed. 

“ - What is it?” Adam stood up. 

“ Watch out.” Dean took a closer look. “Give me a hand with the mattress.” 

Sam, Dean, and I lifted the mattress off, to reveal an air vent directly under the bed. It was open. Sam and Dean glanced at each other and, without saying a word, threw a round of rock-paper-scissors. Dean lost scissors to rock. 

“Every time. Why didn't I throw paper?” Dean groaned but started to crouch down to get in the vent. 

After a few minutes, Dean came out again, his face grim. He shook his head. Adam’s face fell. 

Dean reported what he had found, human remains. At that, Adam started to call the police. 

Sam started to make our excuses, the boys couldn’t be there when the cops came.

“Hey, Adam. We have to bounce.”

“What. Why?” Adam looked on the verge of tears. 

“We have things we need to do.” Dean’s excuse was lame, and Adam could tell.

“What sort of things? Shouldn’t you guys stay? To give the police statements?”

Dean shook his head, and the boys and I moved off towards the impala. Sam was nice enough to give Adam the name of the motel we were staaying at, though.

\------------------------

We were back at the motel room and Dean had his shotgun out, cleaning it. A knock sounded at the door. Dean threw a towel over the gun as Sam answered the door. It was Adam. He pushed his way inside as soon as the door opened. 

“ - Who the hell are you?”

Sam tried to calm him down as he shut the door. “Adam, hey. Take it easy.”

Adam wasn’t having it. “Don't tell me to take it easy. My house is a crime scene, my mom's probably dead, and you two well, you told me to call the cops, but you gotta bail before they show?” Sam pursed his lips. “So who are you really? Cops didn't know where to look, but you did. And I heard you talking earlier, something about grave robberies.” He caught sight of the barrel of Dean’s guns. “You're not mechanics.” His face fell and all the fight left him. “I just wanna know what's going on. Please.”

Sam blew a breath out. “We're hunters.”

“- Sammy.” Dean was shocked a little, that Sam would just blurt out their secret like that.. 

Sam turned to his brother. “- He deserves to know, Dean.”

Adam looked between the two. “- What do you mean, "hunters?”

\------------------------

“Okay, so basically, you're saying that every movie monster every nightmare that I've ever had, that's all real?”

The boys had just finished explaining their world to Adam. He was sitting across from Sam on the beds. Dean was standing next to them. I was at the table reading. It wasn’t really my place to give ‘the talk.’

“Godzilla is just a movie.” Dean tried to make a joke. 

No one laughed, and Sam shot his brother a look. He turned back to Adam. “We hunt them. So did Dad.”

Adam bit his lip. “- Okay.”

“Okay?” Dean screwed his face up. 

“ What am I supposed to say?”

“That we're liars, that we're crazy. Nobody just says "okay.”

“Well, you're my brothers. You're telling me the truth, right?” Adam looked at Sam.

Sam nodded. “ Yeah.”

“Then I believe you. Now, what took my mom?”

Sam shook his head and looked apologetic. “We're not sure. Something's in town stealing bodies, living and dead.”

“But we don't know what,” Dean added. “Long list of freaks that fit the bill.”

“You think maybe she might still be alive?” Adam’s tone was hopeful.

Dean looked down at his feet.

Adam caught on. “ Oh. - How can I help?”

Dean shook his head. “You can't.”

That wasn’t going to cut it for Adam. “This thing killed my mom. I want in.”

“No.”

“Dean, look, maybe-” Sam tried to reason with his brother. 

Dean cut Sam off. “ - Maybe what?”

Sam spoke louder. “He lost his mother. We can understand what that feels like.”

Dean walked closer to Sam. “Why do you think Dad never told us this? Why he ripped out the pages? Because- Because he was protecting him.”

“Dad's dead, Dean.”

Dean was all up in arms about it. “It doesn't matter. He didn't want Adam to have our lives. We're gonna respect his wishes.”

“Do I get a say in this?” Adam was looking between his two half-brothers. 

“ - No.” “- No!” Both Sam and Dean turned away from their argument to say/shout the word.

Dean turned towards the door. “Babysit the kid.”

“Where are you going?”

“ I'm going out.” He slammed the door. 

I decided to stay with Sam and Adam. Dean wasn’t going to be great company as mad as he was. I did still keep track of him with the link, though. 

“Is he always like that?” Adam turned to Sam.

Sam chuckled. “Heh. Welcome to the family.” He pulled his gun from the back of his waistband and started to fiddle with it, making sure the safety was on. “Here. I'm gonna teach you a few things.”

Adam glanced at the door. “ Uh, Dean said-” 

“I know what Dean said.” Sam handed the gun over. “And I know what it's like to want revenge.”

\------------------------

“Sam, how did Dad really die?”

Sam was teaching Adam how to assemble a handgun. He didn’t look up from where he was cleaning his shotgun. “A demon.”

“You hunted it down? Got revenge?” Adam fit another piece of the gun together. 

“Dean killed it.”

“So it's over for you.”

Sam set his gun down. “It's never over.” 

Suddenly, the lights all went out.

“What the-?” 

Sam shushed him.“ Shh. Stay here.” There was a skittering sound. He cocked his gun and started creeping through the room. I pulled out my gun, and one of my knives. I pushed Adam into a corner and stood in front of him. 

Sam checked the bathroom. He turned back to us. “It's in the vents. Go! Go.”

I sheathed my knife and grabbed Adam’s hand. We retreated out of the room. I held on to Adam as he stumbled outside. It was nighttime, so he couldn’t see his feet very well. 

“Where's your car?” Sam asked as we scrambled down the stairs outside.

Adam pointed to the left of us, to an old van. “ - Over here.”

“All right. Keys.” 

Adam tossed them over. 

“Here, here.”

As Sam was unlocking the van, something pulled his feet out from under him. He fell and started to be pulled under the van.

“Sam!”

We both scrambled to grab on to him.

Dean pulled up in the impala just then. “Dean, help!”

Dean quickly got over to us, and he managed to shoot off a shotgun round under the van. The thing let Sam go with a shriek. 

Adam and I let go of Sam. The boys were panting from the adrenaline rush.

Once everyone had calmed down a little, Sam drove the van to a new parking spot, revealing an open manhole smack in the middle of the previous one. 

Dean approached the hole carefully. Once he was satisfied nothing was going to jump out, he turned to the rest of us. “I winged it. Did you see anything?”

Sam shook his head. “ I didn't get a good look. What the hell is this thing?”

Adam was shivering in the cold. “Should we go after it?” 

“No, no. In that maze? That thing's gone.”

Sam peered down the hole as well. “All right, so we don't know what it is, but we do know who it's going after, - Joe Barton, Adam's mom-”

“And Adam,” Dean added.“It was under his truck, waiting for him.”

“It set a trap, and I walked right into it.” Sam shook his head. 

“Doesn't matter. There's a pattern. Joe Barton was a cop. I'm pretty sure he helped out Dad. So we've got him, Dad's girl - and his son.” Dean counted them off on his fingers. 

“All the people Dad knew in town.”

“At least we know why it's back.”

“ It wants revenge,” Adam whispered. 

\------------------------

“Grab your stuff. We'll hit the road.”

Dean had brought us back to Adam’s house to grab some of his things. Adam went up the stairs. Sam, Dean, and I took seats in the kitchen to wait. 

“We shouldn't leave.” Sam started.

Dean snorted quietly. “Yeah, stay where the kid's mom got ganked. Good one.”

“I'm serious.”

He shook his head. “ We're gonna take the kid, drop him off at Bobby's, then you, Jade, and I are gonna come back and finish what Dad started.”

Sam spread his hands. “How? We got no leads, no witnesses. We  _ do _ have what this thing wants.”

Dean turned more fully to his brother as he realized just what Sam was thinking. “You wanna use the kid as bait? That's why you wanna stay?”

“Maybe this thing will come back.” Sam shrugged. “We could train Adam, get him ready.”

“He could die, Sam.”

“We could all die, Dean. Even if we kill this, there are other freaks that want revenge. On Dad, on us. What if they find the kid instead, and he's not ready?” Sam gestured to where Adam had gone up the stairs. 

Just then, Adam appeared in the doorway. He had been listening. “I'll do it. Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I wanna do it.”

\------------------------

“Whoa.”

“It's easy. Just feel the recoil and time the trigger pulls. Three taps.”

Sam, Adam, Dean, and I were all out in the forest. Sam was teaching Adam how to shoot. Dean and I were leaning against the Impala. I was drinking a Sprite.

“Yeah?”

Sam nodded and handed the gun to Adam. “Go ahead.”

Adam took it and sent three shouts into the target. All of the shots were in the second innermost ring. 

Adam turned back to Sam. “Beginner's luck, right?”

Sam clapped him on the shoulder. “ No, man you're a natural. Good shooting.”

\------------------------

“-So then we lit it on fire.”

Sam was going threw some lore books with Adam, and also telling stories of his and Dean’s previous hunts. 

“With a homemade flamethrower?”

He nodded. “Yeah. They're easy to build. I'll show you.”

Adam leaned back in his chair, impressed. “That is some job you got, man.”

That drew Sam up short. He got serious. “Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam. It's life. You're pre-med. You got a girlfriend? Friends?”

Adam nodded.

“Not anymore you don't. If you're really gonna do this you can't have those kinds of connections, ever. They're weaknesses. You'll just put those people in danger, get them killed. That's the price we pay. You cut them out and you don't look back. There's only one thing you can count on. Family.”

By the end of Sam’s mini-speech, Adam was frowning. 

“Sam? Can I talk to you?” Dean stood up and walk ed just out of ear shot. Sam followed him. Of course, I could still hear them. 

“What the hell was that?” Dean rounded on his brother as soon as he stopped moving.

“What?”

“Hunting is life. You can't have connections." Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford. You hated Dad for saying that stuff, and now you're quoting him?” 

Sam shrugged. “ Yeah. Well, turns out Dad was right.”

“Since when?” Dean screwed his face up in confusion. 

“Since always. When I look at Adam, you know what I see?”

“A normal kid.”

Sam corrected Dean. “No. Meat. Because to the demons and monsters out there, that's all he is. I hated Dad for a long time. I did. But now, I think I understand. So we didn't have a dog and a white picket fence, so what? Dad did right by us. He taught us how to protect ourselves. Adam deserves the same.”

Dean stared incredulously at his brother. “Listen to yourself, man.”

“You think I'm wrong?” Sam challenged. 

Dean shook his head. “I think it's too late for us.This is our life, this is who we are, okay? And it's fine. I accept that. But with Adam, he's still got a chance, man. He can go to school, be a doctor.”

“What makes Adam so special?”

That gave Dean something to pull on. “What are you, jealous of the kid?”

Sam didn’t answer and turned the question back at Dean. “Are you? Dean, all this it's not real. The Dad Adam knew, he wasn't real. The things out there in the shadows, they are real. The world is coming to an end. That's real. Everything else is just the crap people tell themselves.”

“Dad didn't have a choice with us, okay? But with Adam he did. Adam doesn't have to be cursed.” I could hear the self-deprecating tone in Dean’s voice. 

Sam snorted. “He's a Winchester - he's already cursed.”

Dean shook his head in denial. “No. No. Whatever's hunting Adam, I'm gonna find it.”

“You already looked everywhere, Dean.”

“Then I'll look again.” Dean took off out the motel door. 

Sam came back over to Adam and I, and shook his head at Adam’s questioning glance. 

\------------------------

With Dean gone, Sam told Adam his plan to use the kid as bait. Adam readily agreed and they started fortifying the house. They closed up any possible entryways, except for the vent in Adam’s mom’s room. 

Once they were done, we stared down the vent. 

Sam tightened his grip on his gun. “All right, we've closed off every other way into the house. If this thing's coming, it's coming through here.”

Just then, a door creaked open in the front of the house.

Adam looked up at Sam. “You were saying?”

A voice started to call out. “Adam? Adam?” It sounded like a woman. 

Adam recognized the voice. “Mom?” He went rushing out of the room.

Sam and I hurried after him. “Adam, wait!” We rounded the corner to the entrance-way to the sight of Adam hugging a lady that, from the photos, was Adam’s mom. 

“It took me, but I got away.” She said into Adam’s shirt. 

He comforted her. “It's okay. It's okay.”

Sam had his shotgun pointed at her. “Step away from her, Adam.”

I had my knife out. 

“Sam, Jade, what the hell?” 

“She's not your mother.” Adam turned at Sam’s urgent tone. 

Adam’s mom was clinging to his arm. “Adam who the-? What is going on?”

“Get away from him.” Sam was almost snarling at Ms. Milligan. 

“What?”

“You listen to me.” Sam moved closer.

Adam shielded his mother. “ It's really her.”

Sam shook his head. “Too much blood. Your mother's dead. There was too much blood in the vent. Adam.” In his urgency, Sam got too close. Adam managed to rip the gun away from him.

“Shoot it!”

Adam looked between his mother and Sam. The gun kept shifting between the two. 

Ms. Miligan pleaded with her son. “He's crazy. Honey, it's me.”

Sam caught his attention again. “- Adam! Look, that's not your mother.”

“Baby, please.”

“- Shoot it! It's not human!”

At that, both mother and son started to smirk. “ I know.” he knocked Sam out with the but of the gun. 

‘Adam’ then trained the gun on me. 

While I could have gotten away, I had to stay with Sam and I didn’t want to reveal my powers to the monsters. I put away my knife and allowed them to tie me spread eagle on a table, with Sam on the other next to me. 

\------------------------

Sam woke up after a few minutes. He jerked at his restraints as he came to. 

Ghoul Ms. Miligan was standing over me, while ghoul Adam was standing over Sam. 

Sam put the pieces together. “Silver. No wonder none of the tests worked. You're not shapeshifters, you're ghouls.”

I connected with Dean’s mind. ‘ _ Adam and his mother have captured Sam and I. They’re ghouls, come as quickly as you can.’  _

Dean jolted as he heard my mental voice, but I could feel his acknowledgement. I cut the connection, then refocused on the conversation. 

“... Fresh meat. So much better than what we're used to.” Ghoul Ms. Miligan was sniffing at Sam. 

Sam panted as he pulled at the ropes holding him down. “I should have known. It was the fresh kills that threw me. Ghouls don't usually go after the living. See, you're just filthy scavengers, feeding off the dead taking the form of the last corpse you choked down.”

Ghoul Adam walked over to Sam. “And their thoughts and their memories. Like Adam, for instance.” 

“Yeah, well, we are what we eat.” Ghoul Ms. Miligan walked back over to me. 

“Monsters,” Sam spat. “Aah!” 

The ghouls cut both of us across a wrist at the same time. Ghoul Ms. Miligan started to suck on the cut on my arm. I had to concentrate on filtering out my energy from my blood. It would be a bad thing for the ghoul to get any into her system.

Ghoul Adam paced around Sam’s table. “You use that word a lot, Sam. I don't think you know what it means.” He took a long pull at Sam’s wrist, only to come back up a moment later. 

“His blood. It tastes different,” He told the other ghoul. 

Ghoul Adam looked down at Sam and spoke with bloodstained teeth. “Our father was a monster? Why? Because of what he ate? He never hurt anyone, Sam. Living, anyway.”

Ghoul Ms. Miligan got off my wrist and stalked over to Sam. “No. He was no monster. But the thing that killed him was. A monster named John Winchester.”

She kept talking as ghoul Adam stabbed a hole in Sam’s side, then proceeded to stick a finger in. 

Sam cried out in pain. 

“Thanks to your daddy, my brother and I grew up on our own.”

Ghoul Adam pulled his finger out and sucked the blood off. “At least we had each other. Like you and your brother, inseparable.”

“Actually, it was very hard to get you on your own.” Ghoul Ms. Miligan added as she went back to sucking on my wrist.

Ghoul Adam continued. “As you said, the only thing you can count on is family.”

Its sister pulled off me again. “Mmm. And for 20 years, we lived like rats. Graveyard after graveyard, all that stinking flesh. We thought, "Why not move up to some fresher game?" And we knew just where to start.” He made a new cut on Sam. “Revenge. It's never over, is it Sam? First, it was John's cop friend, and then his slut, and then his son.”

Ghoul Adam stopped digging the knife in. “Then I called John, but the son of a bitch was already dead.” The being actually sounded sad.

The sister stroked Sam’s face. “So I guess you, Dean, and that girl over there will have to do instead. Dean won't interrupt us this time. We're gonna feed on you nice and slow. Like we did with Adam.”

Ghoul Ms. Miligan moved back over to me, while still looking at Sam. “Oh, and by the way. He really was your brother. You should know that. He was still alive when we took our first bites. And he was a screamer.”

Ghoul Adam made another much larger cut down the length of Sam’s forearm as ghoul Ms. Miligan did the same to me. They made more cuts, ‘till our blood was flowing freely. I could hear it dripping into bowls under the tables.

“Ahh!” Sam writhed on his table. I stayed as still as I could, knowing that the more I moved, the more blood I would lose. Not that the bloodloss would kill me, but it sure was unpleasant.

Ghoul Adam stood over Sam and told him the same thing. “Sam, the more you struggle, the faster you’re are gonna bleed out. So you might as well lie back and relax.”

“Hey!’ The door burst open. Dean had his shotgun at the ready. He blasted ghoul Adam into a wall. 

“Dean they’re ghouls!” Sam managed to shout. 

Dean didn’t reply as he shot ghoul Ms. Miligan in the head.

Ghoul Adam charged Dean before he could get another headshot off. They wrestled for a time, going out of eye range. Soon, though, the house went quiet. Dean emerged from the other room. 

He moved over to Sam. As soon as Dean had cut his brother free, he immediately noticed all the blood coming from Sam’s arms. Dean grabbed a couple of discarded towels and pressed them over the gashes. 

I summoned one of my knives and telekinetically used it to cut my own bonds. I moved over to Sam slowly and started to help with his arms. I didn’t care for my own blood that was dripping down my arms. 

Dean handed some of the towels to me and I used my telekinesis to keep the pressure on my own wounds. 

Sam looked at his brother. “Thank you.”

Dean waved it off. “That's what family's for, right? Keep pressure on that.” He moved off to start cleaning up. 

I brought out some gauze from my pocket space and started to wrap Sam’s arms.

\------------------------

“You sure we should do this?”

We were in a field. Dean had retrieved the real Adam’s body and had built a small funeral pyre for him. 

Dean continued stacking wood. “Ghouls didn't fake those pictures, and they didn't fake Dad's journal. Adam was our brother. He died like a hunter, he deserves to go out like one.”

“Maybe we could bring him back. Get ahold of Cas, call in a favor.”

Dean shook his head. “No. Adam's in a better place.”

He nodded at me to set the fire. I extended my hand and shot off a jet of flames. The wood caught instantly. 

Dean continued. “You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two are practically the same person. I mean, I worshiped the guy, you know? I dressed like him, I acted like him. I listen to the same music. But you are more like him than I will ever be. And I see that now.”

Sam stared into the flames. “ I'll take that as a compliment.”

Dean glanced at his brother. “You can take it any way you want.”

We watched as the flames rose, and the smoke faded into the air. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“Well, what did he say, Dean? What was so important?”

Dean had woken Sam and I up and dragged us to an abandoned warehouse, saying that Castiel wanted to tell us something. We were walking in, the boys with flashlights, and me with a palm of fire. 

As soon as we entered the building, I started to scan for life-forces. Given that the place looked abandoned, I wanted to be prepared.

“If I knew, would I be here?” Dean snarked back at his brother. 

We got to the main area. It was covered in broken parts. There was metal scaffolding everywhere, and rubble strewn across the ground.

Dean shone his flashlight around. “What the hell? It looks like a bomb went off.” He read the terrain. “There was a fight here.”

“Between who?” Sam asked.

“Check it out.” Dean pointed at a bloody symbol on the wall. “Look familiar?”

Sam nodded and added his light to Dean’s. “Yeah, it does. Anna used something like that to wish the angels back to the cornfield. So, what? Cas was fighting angels?”

Dean shook his head and turned away. “ I don't know.”

I finally found a life-force. I looked over to where my senses were indicating, and spotted a bit of Cas’s coat sticking out from some rubble. He was lucky. If the rubble hadn’t gotten propped up, it would have crushed him. 

“ Cas? - Cas.” Dean had spotted him too.    
  


I extinguished my flame and moved the rubble off of him. “Hey, Cas?”

It woke him up. “ What's-? What's-? What's going on?”

Right away, I could tell it wasn’t really Castiel. His voice was too high pitched, and his body movements were wrong. I realized who he had to be. 

Dean helped the man stand up. “Just take it easy. Take it easy.”

“Cas, you okay,” Sam asked, concerned.

The man shook his head. “Ugh. Castiel? I'm not Castiel. It's me.”

“Who's "me"?” Dean took a step back. 

“Jimmy.” Everyone looked at me as I spoke. “His name's Jimmy.”

“Where the hell is Castiel?” Dean was looking wearily at Jimmy.

“ He's gone,” Jimmy stated.

\-------------------------------

“Slow down. You're gonna give me angina.”

We had taken Jimmy back to our motel room. On the way back, Dean had picked up some food. Jimmy had fallen on it like a starved dog. 

“- I'm hungry.” He said with his mouth full. 

“When's the last time you ate,” Sam questioned. 

“I don't know. Months.”

Sam sighed. “What the hell happened back there? It looked like an angel battle royale.”

Jimmy shook his head. “All I remember is a flash of light, and I woke up, and I was just, you know, like, me again.”

Dean’s brow furrowed. “So, what? Cas just ditched out of your meat suit?”

“I really don't know.”

“Do you remember anything about being possessed? Anything at all?” Sam was trying to pull any information from the man.

Jimmy took a long pull of his soda. “Yeah, bits and pieces. I mean, angel inside of you, it's kind of like being chained to a comet.”

“That doesn't sound like much fun.”

“Understatement.” Jimmy went back to eating. 

Sam brought the main topic back. “Cas said he wanted to tell us something. Please tell me you remember that.”

“Sorry.”

Dean didn’t believe him. “Come on, what do you know?”

Jimmy paused in eating. He became somber. “My name is Jimmy Novak. I'm from Pontiac, Illinois. I have a family.” 

\-------------------------------

“So, what do we do?”

Sam, Dean, and I had gone outside for a moment, to discuss what to do with Jimmy. I mostly just watched the boys argue, keeping quiet myself. 

Dean shrugged. “What do you mean? The guy's got a family. We buy him a bus ticket, send him home.”

Sam shook his head in denial. “I don't know about that. Dean, he's the only lead we got.”

“He doesn't know anything.”

He gave his brother a look. “Are you 100 percent about that?”

“You think he's lying? What, you wanna go Guantanamo on the guy?”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Dean, maybe he doesn't even know what he knows. I say, at least we get him to Bobby's. Maybe all he needs is hypnosis or a psychic. Maybe Cas will drop back into him.”

“I don't know.” Dean shook his head. 

Sam continued. “-Dean, back there, that was angel-on-angel violence. Now, I don't know what's going on, but it's big. And we can't just let the only lead we got just skip out. What?”

Dean had a look on his face. “Remember when our job was helping people? Getting them to their families?”

“Think I don't wanna help? I'm just realistic. We're doing him a favor.”

“How?!”

“Dean, if we wanna question the guy, you can damn well bet the demons do too.”

Dean let out a groan, but that had sealed it for him. We went back inside to tell Jimmy the news. 

\------------------------

“Hell you talking about, I can't go home?” Jimmy glared at the boys. 

Dean sighed. “Chance you have a bulls-eye on you.”

“What? From who?”

The boys glanced at each other. “Demons.”

“Come on, that's crazy.” He looked beseechingly at the boys. “What do they want with me?”

“Information, maybe?”

“ _ I don't know anything _ !”

Dena tried to calm him down. “I know, but- “

Jimmy cut Dean off. “Look, I'm done, okay? With demons, angels, all of it. I just wanna go home.”

Sam tried to placate him some more, “We understand.”

It wasn’t working. “I don't think you do understand. I've been shot and stabbed and healed and been dragged all over. By some miracle, I'm out and I am done! I've given enough, okay?!”

Sam stood up from where he had been. “ Look, all we're saying is that until we figure this out the safest place is with us.”

Jimmy repeated his earlier question. “How long?”

Sam paused, then said, “We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Jimmy threw his hands up, then made for the door. Dean intercepted him. 

“Where are you going?”

“To see my wife and daughter, okay?” He glared up at the taller man. 

Sam stepped in front of him as well. “No, you're not. You're just gonna put those people in danger.”

Jimmy took a step back to look Sam in the eye. “So, what, now I'm a prisoner?”

“Harsh way to put it.”

\------------------------

Dean and I had been asleep. Sam had been assigned to take the first shift watching Jimmy. He woke Dean and me up early the next morning. Jimmy was somehow missing. 

“Dean. Would you hurry up?” Sam was shoving his things into his bags. 

Dean came, chuckling, out of the bathroom, brush still in his mouth. Sam didn’t like that. 

“Sorry, uh, this is funny to you,” He snapped. 

Dean nodded and pulled his brush out of his mouth. “Jimmy McMook gives you the slip? Mr. Big-Bad-Prison-Guard? Yeah, it's pretty funny.” Dean went back to brushing, only to speak up again.

“What w‘re you do’ng, any’ay?” Dean’s speech was garbled by the brush still in his mouth.

Sam sighed. “I was getting a Coke.”

Dean finally put away his brush. “Was it a refreshing Coke?”

Sam didn’t appreciate his brother’s sarcasm. “Can we just go, please?”

\------------------------

“Hey, guys.” Anna popped into the back of the Impala next to me. We were on our way to Jimmy’s home.

“Aah! Jeez! Jesus.” Dean jerked the wheel and had to correct the car quickly. 

“Smooth,” Anna commented.

“You ever try calling ahead,” Dean groused. 

The rouge angel shrugged. “I like the element of surprise.”

Dean glanced into the rear-view mirror at Anna. “Well, you look terrific.” 

Anna looked away and blushed. “Um, yeah, not the most appropriate time, Dean. You let Jimmy get away?”

“Talk to ginormous here.” Dean gestured with his thumb at Sam. 

“Sam. You seem different.” She peered at the younger hunter.

“Me?” Sam shrugged. “I don't know. Heh. A haircut?”

“That's not what I'm talking about.” There was a pause before Anna continued. “So, what'd Jimmy tell you? Does he remember anything?”

Dean tried to get some answers of his own. “What's going on?”

Anna obliged. “It's Cas. He got sent back home. Well, more like dragged back.”

“To heaven? That's not a good thing?”

She shook her head. “No. That's a very bad thing. Painfully, awfully bad. He must have seriously pissed someone off.” She had a haunted look in her eyes. 

“Cas had something to tell me. Something important.”

“What?”

“I don't know.” Dean kept glancing in the rear-view at Anna. I had to adjust the wheel more than once to keep us straight on the road.

“Does Jimmy know?”

“- I don't think so.”

“You don't think so?” Anna’s voice was sharp. 

“Whatever it is, it's huge.” Dean finally kept his eyes on the road. 

“You gotta find out for sure.-”

“That's why we're going after Jimmy.” Sam added. 

“That's why you shouldn't have let him go in the first place.” Anna retorted.” He's probably dead already.” She flew away. 

\------------------------

We made it to Jimmy’s house late in the evening. The front door was wide open. Sam and Dean immediately went on alert, and cautiously went in the door. 

Inside, we found Jimmy getting wailed on by a demon, and another holding a knife to a little girl, Claire’s, throat. 

I crept up behind that demon and slit his throat. He crumpled and I grabbed Claire as Dean and Sam took care of the other demons.

“Get them out of here. Go, go!”

Sam grabbed a hold of the demons with his powers. I ushered the Novaks out the door and into the Impala.    
  


Dean and Sam joined us a few seconds later. 

“Let's go.” Dean floored the gas.

\------------------------

“You were right.”

We had stopped at a gas station and Jimmy was talking to us while his family waited in the car. 

“I'm sorry we were.” Dean consoled Jimmy.

“I'm telling you, I don't  _ know _ anything.”

Sam shook his head. “I don't think they're inclined to believe you. And even if they did, you're a vessel. They're gonna wanna know what makes you tick.”

“Which means vivisection if they're feeling generous,” Dean added. “I'm gonna tell you once again, you're putting your family in danger. You have to come with us.”

Jimmy looked pained. “How long? And don't give me "cross that bridge when we get to it."

Sam got irritated. “Don't you get it? Forever. The demons will never stop. You can never be with your family. You either get as far away from them as possible or put a bullet in your head. And that's how you keep your family safe. But there's no getting out, and there's no going home.”

Dean shot his brother a look. “Well, don't sugarcoat it, Sam.” The sarcasm was heavy in his tone. 

Sam shrugged. “I'm just telling him the truth, Dean. Someone has to.”

That ended the conversation, and Jimmy went back to his wife. 

\------------------------

Mrs. Novak and Claire said their good-byes. Dean and Sam had hotwired them a car. They were going to a relatives place for the time being. 

“Take care of your mom. Okay, bub.” Jimmy kissed his daughter on the head and hugged his wife. 

Then Sam, Dean, Jimmy, and I got into the Impala and drove off. 

\------------------------

Dean turned to his brother a few hours later. Jimmy was asleep in the back seat with me. “What the hell happened back there? You practically fainted trying to gank a demon.”

“Okay, I didn't faint. I got a little dizzy.”

Dean waved his hand in a chopping motion to cut him off. “-You can call it what you want. You used to be strong enough to kill Alastair. Now you can't kill stunt-demon number three?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Well, for starters. What's going on with your mojo? I mean, it's yo-yo-ing all over the place. I'm not trying to pick a fight here, okay? You're scaring me, man.”

“I'm scaring myself,” Sam whispered. His phone rang.

Sam took the call. “Hello? Who is this?” He motioned for me to wake Jimmy. 

I did. Once, Jimmy was awake, Sam handed him the phone, saying, “Hey. It's your wife.”

“Amelia?” Jimmy’s face dropped. “Oh, my God.”

\------------------------

After he hung up, Jimmy filled us in on the call. Then, we headed for the warehouse Jimmy had been directed to. 

As we got out of the car, Dean outlined a plan. “They're expecting you to come by yourself. That's what you're gonna do. We'll work our way through the catwalks. Jade will be behind you, invisible. We'll be right behind you. All you gotta do is stay calm and stall. Let us do our job.”

Jimmy huffed incredulously. “Stay calm? This is my family we're talking about.”

“This will work. Do you understand? Nobody's gonna get hurt.” Dean’s tone was confident. 

“Yeah, whatever. Give me a minute, okay?” Jimmy walked off. 

Sam turned to Dean. “There's no way they're expecting him to come alone, Dean. You know this is probably a trap.”

“Yeah, I know. That's why I have a plan.”

Seeing that they were done talking, I followed Jimmy, to keep an eye on him. He was around the corner of the warehouse, shouting at the sky. 

“Castiel, you son of a bitch! You promised me my family would be okay! You promised you were gonna take care of them! I gave you everything you asked me to give! I gave you more!

This is the thanks I get?! This is what you do?! This is your heaven?!” He broke down a little after that. “Help me, please. You promised, Cas. Just help me.” There was no response. “Typical.”

Jimmy headed back, and I walked back to the boys as well.

\------------------------

Once we were ready. Jimmy headed inside. I was cloaked right behind him. The boys were in the catwalks. 

In the open area, Claire was tied to a chair, asleep, with Mrs. Novak standing behind her.

“Hi, honey. You're home.” She jabbed and flashed her eyes black.

I moved next to Claire silently, ready to untie her. 

Jimmy stopped a few yards from the demon. “Listen, I'm- I'm begging you here. You do whatever you want with me, but my wife and daughter, they're just- They're not a part of this.”

The demon strutted forward. “Oh, they're a big part of this, Jimmy. And P.S. You should've come alone.”

“I am alone.”

She walked past him. “Oh, you're such a liar. Like I didn't think you'd bring Heckle and Jeckle, hmm?”

Sam and Dean were pulled into the room by three demons, two men and a woman. The boys were a little beat up. 

“Nice plan, Dean,” Sam quipped.

“Yeah, well, nobody bats 1.000.”

The demon inside Mrs. Novack nodded at her demon lackeys. “Got the knife?” The woman demon brandished it. “And you know what's funny?”

“You wearing a soccer mom,” Dean snarked.

She talked over him. “I was actually bummed to get this detail, picking up an empty vessel. Sort of like a milk run. Now look who landed in my lap.”

“Yeah, well, you got us, huh, okay?” Sam panted. “Let these people go.”

“Oh, Sam. It's easy to act chivalrous when your Wonder Girl powers aren't working, huh?” The demon inside Mrs. Novak looked the boys over. “Now for the punch line. Everybody dies.” She pointed a gun at Sam, but then she turned and shot Jimmy. He sank to the ground, holding his stomach. 

“Waste Little Orphan Annie,” She directed a minion and walked away. 

I tensed up as the demon advanced towards Claire, and incidentally, me. I quickly decloaked and summoned my knives. Claire’s bonds were cut just in time for a glowing white mist to enter the girl. 

I didn’t have time to spare as the demon attacked. Sam and Dean started to fight their own demons in the background. 

I managed to defeat my demon fairly easily, and then I made my way to Jimmy’s side. I took his coat off and started to put pressure on his wound. I looked at the battle just in time to see Sam crouched over a demon, blood coating his face. I could tell Dean saw the sight too as he finished his demon. 

_ ‘So, it’s begun. The beginning of the end of a chapter.’ _

Sam then drove the demon inside Mrs. Novak out. She collapsed to the floor. Dean went to help her.

I drew my attention closer to myself as Claire approached her father. The boys watched on. 

Jimmy recognized the angel inside Claire first. “Castiel.”

She knelt and put her hand on Jimmy’s head. “ Of course, we keep our promises. Of course, you have our gratitude. You served us well, your work is done. It's time to go home now. Your real home. You'll rest forever in the fields of the Lord. Rest now, Jimmy.”

“No. Claire,” Jimmy got out.

Castiel was calm. “ She's with me now. She's chosen. It's in her blood, as it was in yours.”

Jimmy shook his head. “Please, Castiel. Me, just take me. Take me, please.”

“I wanna make sure you understand. You won't die or age. If this last year was painful for you, picture a hundred, a thousand more like it.”

Jimmy found the strength to grab the front of her shirt. “It doesn't matter. You take me. Just take me.”

Castiel nodded. “As you wish.” 

The pair started to glow with a bright, white light. I had to turn away. When I turned back, Jimmy was healed, and his face was blank. He stood up.

“Hey, baby.” Claire ran to her mother. Castiel brushed past the pair and started to walk away. Dean’s voice stopped him. 

“Cas, hold up. What were you gonna tell me?”

Castiel turned around. “I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean. I serve  _ heaven _ , I don't serve man. And, I certainly don't serve  _ you _ .”

He continued walking away.

\------------------------

“All right, let's hear it.”

Sam, Dean, and I had just finished dropping off Mrs. Novak and Claire. Sam was referring to Dean seeing him drink demon blood. 

“Drop the bomb, man. You saw what I did. Come on, stop the car, take a swing.”

Dean’s voice was calm. “I'm not gonna take a swing.”

“Then scream, chew me out.” Sam wasn’t understanding how Dean was so calm. 

“I'm not mad, Sam.”

“Come on. You're not mad?”

“No.” Dean’s eyes were firmly on the road.

“Right. Look, at least let me explain myself.-”

Dean cut Sam off. “Don't. I don't care.”

“You don't care?” That caught Sam off guard. 

Dean sighed. “What do you want me to say, that I'm disappointed? Yeah, I am. But, mostly, I'm just tired, man. I'm done. I am just done.”

Sam’s phone went off. 

“Bobby. Hey.”

I could hear Bobby on the other end. 

“You better shag ass to my place ASAP.”

Dean and I shared a look. Sam missed it.

“What's going on?” 

“The apocalypse, genius. Now get your asses over here.”

Dean looked innocently at Sam as he hung up the phone. “What'd he say?”

\------------------------

“Well, thanks for shaking a tail.”

We had gotten to Bobby’s and he was leading us down to the panic room. 

“Yeah, you got it.”

“Go on inside. I wanna show you something.” Sam went in first.

He turned around once he reached the middle of the room. “All right. So, uh, what's the big demon problem?”

“You are.” Bobby shut the door and locked it. 

“This is for your own good,” Dean said through the door grate. 

Sam pressed against the door, trying to see out. “Guys? Hey, hey. What? This isn't funny. Guys! Hey! Guys?!”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“What-? This isn't funny. Hey! Okay. Let me out. This isn’t funny.”

Sam was talking to Dean and me through the door. 

“Damn straight.”

“Dean, come on. This is crazy.” Sam pleaded with his brother.

“No. Not until you dry out.”

“Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you. Just open the door.”

Dean shook his head. “You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault. It's not your fault that you lied to me over and over again. I get it now. You couldn't help it.”

Sam huffed. “I'm not some junkie.”

“Really?” Dean cocked a brow. “I guess I've just imagined how strung out you've been lately.”

“You're trying to twist this into some kind of ridiculous drug intervention?!”

“If it smells like a duck.” Dean didn’t finish the saying.

“Dean, I'm not drinking the demon blood for kicks. I'm getting strong enough to kill Lilith.”

Dean scoffed. “Strong? Yeah. This is about as far away from strong as you can get. Try weak. Try desperate. Pathetic.”

“Killing Lilith is what matters!” Sam yelled. “Or are you so busy being self-righteous you forgot about her?!”

“Oh, Lilith's gonna die. Bobby, Jade, and I will kill her, but not with you.”

“You're not serious.”

“Congrats, Sammy. You just bought yourself a benchwarmer seat to the apocalypse.” Dean shut the door to the grate.

Sam yelled, but it was muffled by the door. “Dean, look- No, wait- Come back here. Dean! Let me out of here! Dean! Let me out of here! Let me out! Dean!”

I looked at the older Winchester brother. His face was tight with pain for his brother. 

“I’m going to go sit with him. Don’t beat yourself up. He needs this.” I gently clapped a hand on Dean’s shoulder before phasing through the door to the panic room. 

Sam was pacing but stopped when I entered. 

“What the hell. Let me out of here,” he demanded. 

I shook my head. “No can do, Moose. You have to dry out.”

Sam shook his head, then lunged at me. 

I phased and moved to the opposite side of the room before re-solidifying. “That won’t work. Can’t you see what you’re doing to yourself? You are contaminating your body with demon blood.”

Sam scoffed but didn’t make another move towards me. “You sound like my brother. Why can’t you understand that I  _ need _ to do it? I have to be strong enough to kill Lilith.” 

I sighed and sat down on the cot that Bobby had moved into the room. “I see I can’t convince you otherwise. Regardless, I will be here for you. I’ll watch over you while you detox”

The younger Winchester brother snorted and didn’t say anything else to me. He started pacing again. 

\------------------------

Sam had started the shakes and the cold sweats a couple of hours ago. I was reclining against the wall when Sam bolted to his feet. He started looking wildly around the room. 

“Guys, get down here! Something's coming!”

The room looked the same as it always had. Sam spun around and his eyes focused on something in the room. I checked, and there was nothing there. 

_ ‘Ah, hallucinations.’ _ I gently connected to Sam’s mind, so I could see what he saw.

It was Alistair, and he was speaking. “… like I have you all to myself here. Goodness. How will we pass the time?”

Alistair pushed Sam backward until he fell onto a torture chair that hadn’t been their previously. Sam pleaded with the demon as he was strapped down. 

“Don't. No, no, don't.”

Alistair started to cut into Sam. 

“Ahh! Don't, don't. No- Stop! Stop! Alistair, unh, please. Please.”

Alistair leaned down into Sam’s face. “So polite all of a sudden. Very nice. I appreciate that.” He continued cutting into Sam.

“No. Alistair, please. No, no- No. No. God, no!” He caught sight of me again. “Please! Please, please. Jade! Help! God! Stop! Stop! Jade!”

At that point, I had to disconnect from Sam’s mind and turn away. I was going to have a hard time handling Sam’s cries, though I did check to make sure there was no real damage being done.

\------------------------

Finally, Sam stopped screaming and sat up. He was panting hard. His eyes focused on another point in the room. I reconnected to Sam’s mind. 

“... That's right, it's me. Or I mean, it's you.”

It was a boy this time, and judging from his words and his face, it was a younger Sam. 

“I'm losing my mind.” The older Sam gripped his head. 

“Definitely.”

Sam’s eyes followed the kid as he circled the bed. “What do you want?”

“An explanation. How could you do this to me? I thought we were gonna be normal.”

Sam was still breathing hard as he caught his breath. “I tried. I did. It didn't pan out that way. Sorry, kid.”

Young Sam huffed. "Sorry, kid"? That's what you have to say? It's all we ever wanted. We were so close. You got away from Dad. You quit hunting, you were gonna become a lawyer and get married. Why'd you blow it?”

Sam cut off his younger self. “Look. They killed Jessica.”

“Yeah. And if you hadn't run off with Dean, if you'd been there to protect her, she'd still be alive.”

“I know.” Sam couldn’t look at the boy. 

“You think Jess would want you to turn into this? She loved you. You think she'd be happy you using her as an excuse?”

The final mention of Jessica set Sam off. “I'm sorry I am but life doesn't turn out the way you thought when you were 14 years old. We were never gonna be normal. We were never gonna get away. Grow up.”

Young Sam appeared on the other side of Sam, without walking the distance between the spots. “Maybe you're right. Maybe there's no escape. After all, how can you run from what's inside you?”

\------------------------

Sam and his younger self spent a few hours talking/arguing. 

After Young Sam left, apparently it was Mary’s turn. By this time it was morning. Light was shining through the vent in the roof. 

“Poor baby.”

“Mom.”

Mary had on the nightgown she had died in. It still had the blood. “Sam. You look just awful.”

Sam stood shakily to face his mother. “Let's hear it. Go ahead.”

“What do you mean?” The Mary apparition was genuinely confused. 

Sam rattled off some of the things he had bouncing around his head. “You're disappointed. You never thought I'd turn out this way. I'm a piss-poor excuse for a son. Your heart is broken. Am I close?”

Mary shook her head and walked closer. “Not at all. You're doing the right thing, Sam. What you're doing is brave. You're not being crazy, you're being practical. Sam, I am so proud of you.”

“But- But Dean-” Sam couldn’t understand how his mom was taking his side. He sat down on the cot.

Mary cut him off and joined him in sitting. “ - Your brother doesn't understand. I was raised as a hunter from a long line. We understand that there are gonna be hard choices. And we do what we have to to get the job done. Yes, our family is cursed. But you- You have the power to turn it into a gift. You can use it against them. For revenge? No, for justice. I know how scared you are.”

Sam’s face crumpled.“What's in me, Mom - it's- - Evil. And you know it. What if it's stronger than me? Look at me. What if Dean's right?”

Mary brushed some hair away from Sam’s face lovingly. “ Dean can never know how strong you are because Dean is weak. Look at what he's done to you. Locking you in here? He's terrified. He's in over his head. You have to go on without him. You have what it takes. You have to kill Lilith.”

“- Even if it kills me?” Sam looked so lost.

Mary caught Sam’s eyes. “Make my death mean something. I'm counting on you, Sam. Don't let anyone or anything get in your way. Not even Dean.”

\------------------------

I phased through the door, needing a break, and went to find Dean. He was outside in the scrapyard, and Castiel was with him. They were in the middle of a discussion. Both noticed me but continued talking. 

“… You were gonna tell me something.”

Cas waved a hand. “Well, nothing of import.”

Dean snorted, not believing the angel. “You got ass-reamed in heaven but it was not of import?”

“Dean, I can't. I'm sorry.” Cas’s face was blank, but I could feel the fear on him. He faced away from Dean. “Get to the reason you really called me. It's about Sam, right?”

“Can he do it? Kill Lilith, stop the apocalypse,” Dean sent a questioning look at Castiel’s back. 

Cas nodded and turned back around. “Possibly, yes. But as you know he'd have to take certain steps.”

Dean nodded. “Crank up the hell-blood regimen.”

  
  
  


“Consuming the amount it would take to kill Lilith would change your brother forever.

Most likely, he would become the next creature that you would feel compelled to kill. There's no reason this would have to come to pass, Dean. We believe it's you, Dean. Not your brother. The only question for us is whether you're willing to accept it. Stand up and accept your role. You are the one who will stop it.”

Dean tilted his head in consideration. “If I do this Sammy doesn't have to?” He looked at me. I shrugged. It was his choice. 

“If it gives you comfort to see it that way.”

“God, you're a dick these days. Fine, I'm in.” Dean threw his hands up. 

“You give yourself over wholly to the service of God and his angels?”

Dean waved his hand. “Yeah, exactly.”

Cas wasn’t convinced. “Say it.”

Dean sobered as he realized Cas was serious. “I give myself over wholly to serve God and you guys.”

Cas guided Dean through the next part of the oath. “You swear to follow his will and his word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father's?”

“Yes, I swear. Now what?”

Castiel caught Dean’s eyes and held them. “ Now you wait and we call on you when it's time.” He left.

Dean walked back inside. I didn’t follow him. 

\------------------------

I walked around for the scrap yard for a little while, then went back to Sam.

A couple of hours in and Sam was freaking out. A look into his mind showed black veins covering his body. 

He started yelling and screaming for Dean. I tried to calm him, but he was inconsolable. 

Five minutes later, and he was convulsing on the floor quietly. I was trying to keep him from biting his tongue. 

“Dean!”

Dean and Bobby came running down the stairs, just in time for Sam to start being thrown around the room by an invisible force. 

Dean wretched the door open and rushed inside. I flew up and managed to drag Sam down the wall so Dean and Bobby could grab him as well. Sam was still being flung around in our grips. The three of us got Sam on the ground and pinned his arms to his chest. Bobby used his belt to keep Sam from choking on his tongue.

“We're gonna have to tie him down for his own safety,” Bobby said. Dean wasn’t paying attention and Bobby had to rouse him. "Dean? You with me? - Dean! Before he has another fit.”

Dean nodded shakily. “Yeah, yeah. Let's just get it over with.”

Once Sam had calmed down, Bobby got some handcuffs with really long chains. We cuffed Sam to the bed. Bobby placed fabric between the cuffs and his appendages, so Sam wouldn’t tear up his legs and wrists if he had another fit. 

Sam woke up about an hour later and sat up as much as his chains would allow. I was holding one of his hands. He focused on a point in the room where nothing was. By then, I recognized the sign of a hallucination. I gently connected to Sam’s mind. 

“We had to,” Dean explained and gestured to the cuffs. “The demon blood was flinging you all over the room. Tell me something, Sam. Why did you do this to yourself?”

“You know why.” Sam looked up at his brother. 

Dean rolled his eyes. “Right. "Kill Lilith." The big excuse. But why? What, revenge? Right?”

“Of course,” Sam’s voice was broken.

“Revenge for what? For sending me to hell? Did you happen to notice I'm back? Alive and kicking.” Dean gestured to himself. “So, what's the point?”

“Point?” Sam tried to talk with his hands but stopped as they pulled against his cuffs. “How about "stop the damn apocalypse"?”

Dean pointed to himself. “My gig. Not yours. The angels said so, remember? God picked me, man. So, you got any other fantastic excuses? Hmm?”

Sam didn’t reply.

\------------------------ 

“I know why you really drink that blood, Sam.”

Apparition Dean was back. Sam was lying prone on the cot. He looked terrible, there were bags under his eyes and his face was gaunt. I had been wiping at his forehead with a towel, to keep the sweat off him.

“Just leave me alone.”

“Makes you feel strong. Invincible. A big, bad wolf in a world of little pigs.”

“No. You're wrong, Dean.” Sam looked pleadingly at the image of his big brother.    
  


“It's more than that, isn't it? It's because, your whole life, you felt different. Am I right?”

“Stop.”

“Oh, I hit a little close to home, huh? Not different because you were some lonely kid - or because of your weirdo family.”

“Stop it.” Sam tugged futility at his chains. 

“Because you're a monster.”

“Shut up! - Just- Unh. Shut the hell up.”

‘Dean’ leaned down close to get in Sam’s face. “You were always a monster. And you only feel right when you're sucking down more poison and more evil.”

Sam started to really pull at his cuffs. 

“Monster, Sam. You're a monster.”

“Dean, no.”

“And I tried so hard to pretend that we were brothers. That you weren't one of the filthy things that we hunt. But we're not even the same species. You're nothing to me.”

“Don't say that to me. Don't you say that to me.” Sam had tears in his eyes. I wiped away the ones that escaped, but Sam didn’t notice. The hallucination Dean disappeared. Sam fell into a restless sleep. 

He woke up again after dark. I was in a sleeping trance. 

Sam took a few seconds to wake up, but then he snapped to awareness. “Hello? Someone here?”

His cuffs all unlocked. I woke completely. 

Before I could call out, the water pitcher Dean had left flew off the table. It hit me on the back of the head, hard enough to stun me. I fell to the ground and watched with hazy eyes as the door swung open and Sam scrambled out. 

\------------------------

After a few minutes, I managed to regain enough coherency to make my way out of the basement and into the scrapyard. 

Bobby had Sam at shotgun-point. I hid behind a car. 

“ … The only place you're going is back inside with me.”

“No.”

“Damn it, boy.”

Sam took a few steps forward. “You won't shoot me, Bobby.”

“Don't test me.” Bobby’s voice was thick. 

“You won't do it.” Sam pressed his stomach to the barrel. “You can't do it.”

“We're trying to help you, Sam,” Bobby pleaded. 

“Then shoot.”

Bobby didn’t and Sam used the opportunity to yank the riffle away and knock Bobby out with it. 

Once Sam was gone, I made my way over to Bobby and roused him. 

\------------------------

“How the hell did he get out?” 

As soon as Bobby and I got inside, I woke Dean up. We all went to the basement to see how Sam had escaped.

“Maybe he had help. The room’s full of busted devil's traps.” Bobby motioned to the busted iron devil’s trap on the ground. 

“Demons? Jade, did you sense anything?”

I shrugged. “I was in a sleep trance. I wasn’t scanning for anything. I didn’t have time to once I was awake. I was hit from behind too quickly.”

“Ruby. That'd be my guess.” Dean inspected the salt-soaked, iron door. “How did she even touch the door?”

Bobby looked at his pseudo son. “You think she's got the mojo?”

“I don't know, man.”

Bobby shrugged. “What difference does it make? How he got gone ain't as important as where he got gone to.

“Well, I'll tell you one thing, I hope he's with Ruby.” Dean’s eyes hardened. 

“Why?”

“ Killing her's the next item on my to-do list.” Dean started to walk back to the stairs. I followed him. 

“I thought you were on call for angel duty.”

“I am on call, in my car, on my way to murder the bitch.” He threw over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs.

“One thing.” Dean paused at Bobby’s voice. “Sam doesn't wanna be found which means he's gonna be damn near impossible to find.”

“Yeah, we'll see. Jade, can you locate him?”

I frowned. “No, something is shielding him. It must be heavy duty to stop me.”

Dean sighed. “Guess we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way”

\------------------------

“Police found my car. Abandoned in an alley in Jamestown, North Dakota,” Bobby reported. 

Dean glanced over and went around to look at Bobby’s screen. “He's switching up. Any other cars were stolen in Jamestown?”

Bobby nodded. “Two. 1999 Honda Civic, blue. Nice and anonymous, like Sam likes.”

Dean frowned. “What was the other one?”

“White '05 Escalade with custom rims. It's a neon sign.”

“You’re right. He'd never take that.” Dean paused before adding. “Which is exactly what he did.”

“You think?”

Dean started to grab his car keys. “I know that kid. Jade and I will head in that direction. You stay here, ride the police databases. We gotta find him quick.”

I was right behind Dean as we went out to the Impala. 

\------------------------

“Cops found the Escalade in a ditch outside Elk River.”

Dean was driving and talking to Bobby. I was mildly enjoying one of my rare moments of being in the front seat.

“How far away are we?”

Bobby’s voice was loud and clear on the other end. “A couple of hours. I pulled up a weather map, made some calls. There's a town not far, Cold Spring. Lighting up with demon sign. A good place to look.” There was a pause. “Hey, listen. Us finding Sam? It's gotta be about getting him back, not pushing him away.”

“Right.” Dean huffed. 

“I know you're mad, Dean. I understand. You got a right to be, but I'm just saying. Be good to him anyway. You gotta get through to him.”

\------------------------

Dean drove through the night, and we managed to make it to the hotel Sam was at. 

He went in first and figured out what room Sam was staying in. We waited until Sam left for a minute. As Dean walked silently into the room, I was cloaked behind him. 

Ruby didn’t notice Dean until he was right upon her, but she turned in time to deflect the demon knife coming for her. The pair grappled for a moment. 

Dean was just about to stab Ruby when Sam came rushing in and stopped Dean’s hand. 

“No! Let her go! Just take it easy.” Sam stood in between Dean and Ruby, protecting her. 

That gave me enough of an opening to grab Ruby’s vessel in a full-body telekinetic hold. She couldn’t move. 

Dean panted from the exertion. “Well, it must've been some party you two had going considering how hard you tried to keep me from crashing it. Well, solid try but here we are.”

Sam was calm. “Dean, I'm glad you're here. Look. Let's just talk about this.”

“Soon as she's dead,” Dean pointed at Ruby. “We can talk all you want.”

“Ruby, get out of here,” Sam said over his shoulder. 

“No, she's not going anywhere.” 

Ruby looked between the two brothers, then smoked out of her vessel. After the smoke was gone. I let the body drop to the ground. 

Dean turned back to Sam. “She's poison.”

Sam sighed. “It's not what you think.”

“Look what she did to you! She vanishes weeks at a time, leaves you cracking out for another hit-”

“- She was looking for Lilith.”

“French for manipulating your ass-”

“You're wrong, Dean.”

Dean took a few steps closer. “Sam, you're lying to yourself. I just want you to be okay. You would do the same for me. You know you would.”

Sam met his brother’s gaze. “Just listen. Just listen for a second. We got a lead on a demon close to Lilith. Come with us, Dean. You, me, and Jade. We'll do this together.”

“That sounds great. As long as it's just us three.” Dean pleaded. “Demon bitch is a deal-breaker. You kiss her goodbye, we can go right now.”

“I can't. Dean, I need her to help me kill Lilith. I know you can't wrap your head around it but maybe one day you'll understand. I'm the only one who can do this, Dean.” Sam was starting to get irritated. 

“No, you're not the one who's gonna do this.”

Sam huffed and rolled his eyes. “Right. That's right. I forgot. The angels think it's you.”

Now Dean was offended. “You don't think I can?”

“ - No. You can't. You're not strong enough.”

He stared openly at his brother. “Who  _ are _ you?”

Sam tried to calm down a little. “I'm being practical here. I'm doing what needs to be done.”

“Yeah? You're not gonna do a single damn thing.”

That hit a nerve. “Stop bossing me around, Dean. Look. My whole life you take the wheel, you call the shots and I trust you because you’re my brother. Now I'm asking you, for once trust me.”

“No. You don't know what you're doing, Sam.” Dean clenched his jaw. 

“Yes, I do.”

“Then that's worse.” Dean turned away from Sam. 

“Why? Look, I'm telling you-”

“ Because it's not something you're doing, it's what you are! It means-” Dean cut himself off. 

“What? No. Say it.” Sam knew how Dean would finish the sentence. 

And Dean did. “It means you're a monster.”

Sam clenched his jaw and looked away. 

Then he swung back and punched Dean in the jaw. Dean fell to the ground and I helped him back up. The boys started glaring at each other, tensing up and getting ready to fight. I stepped off to the side. It was a family matter, but I wouldn’t let either Winchester get too hurt. 

Two seconds of silence passed, then Dean threw the first punch. Sam was pushed back. Dean was able to land more hits, but Sam got in a few of his own. Sam managed to shove Dean through a glass and wood partition in the room. Sam then got on top of his brother and started to choke him. 

That’s when I intervened. I thrust a hand out and shoved Sam off his brother. Dean started to wheeze in breaths. I rushed over. 

Once Sam got to his feet, he looked down at his brother “You don't know me. You never did. And you never will.”

He made for the door.

Dean rolled onto his stomach, so he could lock eyes with Sam right-side-up. “You walk out that door, don't you ever come back.”

Sam simply stared at Dean and left the room. 

\------------------------

I got Dean standing just as a hotel staff member came into the room. He took in the sight of the destroyed room, and Ruby’s body on the ground.

“What the hell. I’m calling the cops.”

I held out an arm, barring the door. The man paused long enough for me to pull out all the cash in my pocket. It was a substantial amount, around four hundred dollars. 

“Here, yours if you don’t tell anyone.”

The man looked at the money and took if after a few seconds. He left the room. But, I knew we had to scram. Dean and I made our way back to Baby. 

He didn’t say a word as he shifted the Impala into gear and sped off. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not have access to the actual episode, just scripts. So, if a scene isn’t written as it happened on the TV show, Sorry.
> 
> Anything recognizable is the property of the CW. This work is non-beta’d, all mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me about them in the comments, but be respectful.
> 
> 'Thoughts'- italics  
> Phasing- Density Shifting  
> Cloaking- Turning Invisible

“Dean? Dean? You listen to a word I said?” 

Dean and I were back at Bobby’s. Bobby had been trying to convince Dean to call Sam.

“Yeah, I heard you. I'm not calling him.”

“Don't make me get my gun, boy.” It wasn’t a real threat, and Bobby and Dean both knew it. It had hurt Bobby enough to have to point a gun at one of the brothers. He couldn’t bear to do the same to the other.

“We are damn near kickoff for Armageddon. We got bigger fish at the moment.”

Bobby sighed but kept trying. “I know you're pissed and I'm not making apologies. But he's your-”

Dean cut him off. “Blood? He's my blood? Is that what you're gonna say?”

“-He's your brother and he's drowning.”

Dean started to pace. “Bobby, I tried to help him. I did. Look what happened.”

“So, try again.”

“No, it's too late.”

“There's no such thing.”

“No, damn it!” Dean stopped and caught Bobby’s eyes. “No. We gotta face the facts. Sam never wanted part of this family. He hated this life growing up. Ran away to Stanford first chance he got. Now it's like déjà vu all over again. Well, I am sick and tired of chasing him. Screw him. He can do what he wants.”

“You don't mean that.”

“Yes, I do, Bobby. Sam's gone. He's gone. I'm not even sure if he's still my brother anymore. If he ever was.” 

That hit a nerve with Bobby. He swept everything off his desk in a fit of anger, startling Dean.

“You stupid, stupid son of a bitch! Well, boohoo, I am so sorry your feelings are hurt, princess.” Bobby got in Dean’s face. “You under the impression that family's supposed to make you feel good? Bake you an apple pie, maybe? They're supposed to make you miserable! That's why they're family!”

“I told him, "You walk out that door, don't come back." And he walked out anyway. That was his choice,” Dean retorted.

“You sound like a whiny brat.” Bobby spat. “No. You sound like your dad. Well, let me tell you something. Your dad was a coward.”

Dean walked a few paces away. “My dad was a lot of things, but a coward?”

“He'd rather push Sam away than reach out to him. Well, that doesn't strike me as brave. You are a better man than your daddy ever was. So you do both of us a favor. Don't be him.”

Dean clenched his jaw at Bobby’s words. Before he said anything else, however, he disappeared.

Bobby paused. By this time, I was familiar enough with angels to be able to tell they were the ones that took Dean. 

I turned to Bobby and said, “It was the angels. I’ll go after him, keep him safe as best I can.”

He nodded, and I flashed away.

\------------------------

I sagged once I reappeared. I was in a white room that looked like it belonged in a palace. Paintings hung on the walls. They all depicted scenes from the bible. The molding was trimmed in gold, and there was an expensive-looking table in the middle of the room. On it was a platter of burgers and a bowl filled with chilling beers. 

There was a chair by the table, so I sank into that. Dean, Castiel, and another angel were standing in the middle of the room. 

“Hello, Dean. You're looking fit,” The other angel was saying.

Apparently, Dean knew the other angel, because he snorted. “Well, how about this. The Suite Life of Zach and Cas.” At the angels’ blank looks he tried to explain. “It's a- Never mind. So, what is this? Where the hell am I?”

“Call it a green room. We're closing in on the grand finale here. Wanna keep you safe before showtime.” He turned to me. “Though, you are not supposed to be here. Leave.”

I shook my head and stood shakily, leaning on the table. “No can do. Where Dean goes, I go; and you can’t do a thing about it. Or do you feel like fighting over it.” I allowed one of my knives to appear in my hand.

Zachariah, based on Dean’s name-calling, glared at me. I locked eyes with him. I could still take him on, weakened as I was. Dean was looking between the two of us. 

After a few seconds, Zachariah looked away and started to pretend that I wasn’t there. I put away my knife and sank back into the chair slowly. 

Zachariah turned back to Dean. “Try a burger. They're your favorite. From that sea-side shack in Delaware. You were 11, I think.”

Dean shook his head. “I'm not hungry.”

“No? How about Ginger from season two of Gilligan's Island? You do have a thing for her, don't you?”

“Tempting.” Then Dean thought about it some more. Weird.”

“We'll throw in Mary Ann for free.”

“No, no, it's bail on the Holodeck, okay?” He was tired of playing games. “I wanna know what the game plan is.”

Zachariah waved him off. “Let us worry about that. We want you focused, relaxed.”

That didn’t comfort Dean. “Well, I'm about to be pissed and leaving, so start talking, chuckles.”

The older angel sighed and brushed past Dean. “All the seals have fallen except one.”

Dean huffed and turned to face Zachariah. “That's an impressive score. That's right up there with the Washington Generals.”

“You think sarcasm's appropriate, do you?” The angel turned back to Dean. “Considering you started all this? But the final seal, it'll be different.”

“Why?”

“Lilith has to break it. She's the only one who can. Tomorrow. Midnight.”

“Where?”

“We're working on that,” Zachariah evaded.

“Well, work harder.”

“We'll do our job. You do yours.”

I could tell Dean really wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “Yeah, and what is that, exactly? I'm the one that stops her. How? With the knife?”

Zachariah was still talking to Dean in a patronizing tone. “All in good time.”

Dean wasn’t having it. “Isn't now a good time?”

“Have faith.”

He cocked an eyebrow and gave the angel a look. “What, in you? Give me one good reason why I should.”

Zachariah got into Dean’s face. “Because you swore your obedience. So obey.”

With that unsaid threat, the angels left. Dean turned to me.

“Are you okay?”

I gave him a small smile. “I’ll be fine. The warding surrounding this place is stronger than most. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be fighting fit.”

Dean huffed and cracked a subdued smile. 

\------------------------

“It's Sam, leave me a message.”

Dean was calling Sam on a phone the angels had given him. I could feel the angelic energy interfering with the device, but didn’t say anything to Dean. It wasn’t my place. 

Dean was on the other side of the room, but I could still hear him. “Hey. It's me, uh Ahem. Look, I'll just get right to it. I'm still pissed and I owe you a serious beat down. But I shouldn't have said what I said. You know, I'm not dad. We're brothers, you know. We're family. And, uh no matter how bad it gets, that doesn't change. Sammy, I'm sorry-” The timer ran out on the message.

\------------------------

“You asked to see me?” Castiel appeared in the middle of the room. 

  
Dean turned to face him. “Ahem, yeah. Listen, I, uh, need something.”

“Anything you wish.”

He sighed. “I need you to take me to see Sam. Something I gotta talk to him about.”

“What's that?”

“The BM I took this morning, what's it to you? Just make it snappy.”

“I don't think that's wise.” Castiel took a few steps forward. 

“Well, I didn't ask you for your opinion.”

“Have you forgotten what happened the last time you met?”

“No. That's the whole point. I'm gonna do whatever you mooks want, okay? I just need to tie up this one thing. Five minutes. That's all I need.” There was a pleading tone to Dean’s voice. 

“No.”

Dean was getting suspicious. “Fine, I’ll just have Jade take me.”

I sighed and told Dean about the restrictions of teleporting through wards.”

At that news, Dean turned back to Castiel. “You saying that I'm trapped here?”

“You can go wherever you want,” Castiel monotoned.

“Super. I wanna go see Sam.”

“Except there.”

Dean locked eyes with the angel. “I wanna take a walk.”

“I'll go with you.”

“Alone.”

“No.”

That was the last straw for Dean. “You know what? Screw this noise. I'm out of here.” He headed to the pair of doors set into one wall. 

“Through what door?” 

Dean paused and glanced back at Cas. When he turned around, the door was gone and so was Castiel.

“Damn it.” Dean turned to me again. “Jade, can you bust a way out of here?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Dean. The warding is too strong for me to break. Maybe if I was at full power, but not at anything less. Teleporting through them is hard enough.”

\------------------------

“Son of a bitch.”

Dean had just finished busting a hole in the wall, only for it to disappear. I, in the meantime, had gotten out a book and was reading. My strength was coming back.

Zachariah appeared and sneered at Dean. “Quit hurling feces like a howler monkey, would you? It's unbecoming.”

Dean rounded on the angel. “Let me out of here.”

The heavenly being (read: douche) shook his head. “I told you, too dangerous out there. Demons on the prowl.”

It was Dean’s turn to get in Zachariah’s face. “I been getting my ass kicked all year, now you're sweating my safety? You're lying. I wanna see my brother.”

“That's ill-advised.” Castiel was trying the calmer

Dean’s eyes narrowed. “You know, I am so sick of your crap riddles and your smug fat face. What the hell is going on, huh? Why can't I see Sam? And how am I gonna ice Lilith?”

Zachariah dropped his head for a second, then raised it to meet Dean’s eyes.“ You're not going to ice Lilith.”

“What?”

I set my book down at that point. “Lilith's going to break the final seal. I can feel the power building, Dean.”

Zachariah nodded along with my words. “Fait accompli, at this point. Train's left the station.”

“But, me and Sam, we can stop-” Dean realized something. “You don't wanna stop it, do you?”

“Nope. Never did.” Zachariah sat down on a sofa against the wall. “The end is nigh, the Apocalypse is coming, kiddo, to a theater near you.”

“What was all that crap about saving seals?”

Zachariah spread his hands in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. “Grunts on the ground, we couldn't tell them the whole truth. We'd have a full-scale rebellion on our hands. I mean, think about it. Would we really let 65 seals get broken unless senior management wanted it that way?”

“ - But why?”

“Why not? The Apocalypse. Poor name, bad marketing, it puts people off. When all it is, is Ali-Foreman. On a slightly larger scale. And we like our chances. When our side wins, and we will, it's paradise on Earth. What's not to like about that?”

Dean was looking at the more gruesome of the pictures on the walls. “And what happens to all the people during your little pissing contest?”

The smug angel brightened up again. “Well, can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs. In this case, truckloads of eggs, but you get the picture. Look it happens. This isn't the first planetary enema we've delivered.” 

Dean’s glare was incendiary. If looks could kill… 

“Oh, no, probably shouldn't try to bash my skull in with that thing. Wouldn't end up too pleasant for you.” Zachariah read Dean’s mind. 

_ ‘Oops, probably should teach him how to shield a little.’  _ I made a mental note to teach the boys how to shield later.

Dean looked back at Zachariah. “What about Sam? He won't go quietly. He'll stop Lilith.”

Zachariah took a few breaths. “Sam has a part to play. A very important part. He may need a little nudging in the right direction but I'll make sure he plays it.”

Dean stepped closer to the angel, his brotherly hackles raised. “What does that mean? What are you gonna do to him?”

“Sam, Sam, Sam. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Forget about him, would you?” Zachariah set a hand on Dean’s shoulder. “You have larger concerns. Why do you think I'm confiding in you? You're still vital, Dean. We weren't lying about your destiny. We just omitted a few pertinent details. But nothing's changed. You are chosen. You will stop it. Just not Lilith or the Apocalypse, that's all.”

Dean wasn’t following. “Which means?”

Zachariah motioned over to a picture depicting an angel standing over a devil-like creature. “Lucifer. You're going to stop Lucifer. You're our own little Russell Crowe, complete with the surly attitude. And when it's over and when you've won, your rewards will be unimaginable. Peace. Happiness. Two virgins and 70 sluts. Trust me, one day we'll look back on this and laugh.” He started to walk away.

Dean stopped him. “Tell me something. Where's God in all this?”

Zachariah turned around. “God? God has left the building.” He flew away. Cas followed silently after him.

\------------------------

“You can't reach him, Dean. You're outside your coverage zone.” Castiel popped in again. 

Dean was trying to use the cellphone to reach Sam, again. I was meditating, having fully recovered. 

“What are you gonna do to Sam?” Dean didn’t face Castiel. 

“Nothing. He's gonna do it to himself.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Dean looked at Castiel, who didn’t reply. “Oh, right, right. Gotta toe the company line.” He walked closer to the angel. “Why are you here, Cas?”

“We've been through much together, you and I. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry it ended like this.”

“Sorry?” Dean scoffed. Then he punched Castiel full in the jaw. Cas barely flinched, but Dean turned around and clutched at his hand in pain. 

Once Dean had control of himself again, he turned back around. “It's Armageddon, Cas. You need a bigger word than sorry.”

“Try to understand,” Castiel pleaded. “This is long foretold. This is your-”

“-Destiny?” Dean finished. “Don't give me that holy crap. Destiny, God's plan, it's a bunch of lies, you poor, stupid son of a bitch. It's just a way for your bosses to keep me, and keep you, in line. Do you know what's real? People. Families. That's real. And you're gonna watch them all burn?” Dean pinned Castiel with a glare. 

That didn’t sit well with Castiel, who stalked closer. “What is so worth saving? I see nothing but pain here. I see inside you. I see your guilt, your anger, confusion. In paradise, all is forgiven. You'll be at peace. Even with Sam.”

Dean’s eyes hardened, and he caught Castiel’s. “You can take your peace and shove it up your lily-white ass. Because I'll take the pain and the guilt, I'll even take Sam as is. It's a lot better than being some Stepford bitch in paradise. This is simple, Cas.” Castiel turned away, but Dean kept speaking. “No more crap about being a good soldier. There is a right and there is a wrong here and you know it! Look at me.” Dean spun the angel to face him. “You know it! Now, you were gonna help me once, weren't you? You were gonna warn me before they dragged you to Bible camp. Help me now, please.”

“What would you have me do,” Cas said in a helpless tone.

“Get me to Sam. We can stop this - before it's too late.”

Castiel’s face was grave, but I could see the slightest bit of fear. “I do that, we will all be hunted. We'll all be killed.”

“If there is anything worth dying for this is it.” 

Castiel shook his head.

Dean sighed. “You spineless, soulless, son of a bitch. What do you care about dying? You're already dead. We're done.”

“Dean.-”

“We're done,” Dean repeated.

Right before Castiel flew away, I whispered in his head. 

‘ _ Destiny is ever-changing, this can change yours for the better.’ _

\------------------------

It was a few hours later when Castiel popped back in the room. Dean went to say something, probably to start another rant, but Cas covered his mouth and shoved him against a wall. I sprang to my feet with my knives in my hand, but not for the reason Dean probably believed. Dean froze. Castiel put a finger to his lips. Dean nodded. Cas pulled his hand away and pulled out the demon knife. He cut his arm and started to draw the Enochian sigil on the wall. 

Right before he finished, Zachariah appeared. 

“Castiel! Would you mind explaining just what the hell you're doing?”

Cas finished the sigil and slapped his hand down in the middle. Zachariah was swept away. 

As soon as the light faded, Castiel turned to Dean and I. “ He won't be gone long. We have to find Sam now.” He looked at me. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know, he’s under heavy warding. But, I might know who can help.” At Castiel’s sigil, the wards around the room had fallen. I could teleport out without fatiguing myself.

Castiel nodded. “We have to stop him, Dean, from killing Lilith.”

“But Lilith's gonna break the final seal.”

He shook his head. “Lilith _ is _ the final seal. She dies, the end begins.”

Dean’s eyes widened. 

I looked at Castiel. “Can you take Dean and follow me?”

He nodded. We both took off at the same time. 

\------------------------

The three of us appeared in the living room of Chuck Shurley. He was on the phone and, needless to say, he was surprised. “Wait. This isn't supposed to happen.” 

Chuck spoke to the person on the phone. “No, lady, this is definitely supposed to happen. But I just gotta call you back. All right.” He hung up. 

Dean immediately started shuffling through Chuck’s desk. After a few seconds, he resurfaced with papers. He started to flip through them ‘till he found the right page. 

“St. Mary's? What is that, a convent?” Dean looked up from reading at Chuck.

Chuck nodded shakily. “Yeah. You guys aren't supposed to be there. You're not in this story.”

Cas spoke up. “Yeah, well, we're making it up as we go.”

“What?”

The lights and electronics started to flicker, and a white light built up outside.

Chuck groaned. “Oh, man. Not again.”

“It's the Archangel,” Castiel yelled. “I'll hold him off, I'll hold them all off. Just stop Sam!”

I grabbed ahold of Dean and flashed away with him.

\------------------------

We arrived in a hallway of the St. Mary’s covenant. I couldn’t appear right beside Sam because of the wards. I summoned my knives, and Dean clutched at the demon knife. We headed down the hall. 

Dean and I rounded the corner just in time to see Sam. Ruby, who had apparently gotten her vessel back, was with him, and she spotted us first. With a wave of her hand, the doors to the room slammed shut. 

Dean started pounding on the door. “Sam! Sam. Sammy. Sam. Sam!”

I put my weapons away. It took a minute, but I managed to pull Dean away from the door. 

I started talking urgently. “Stand back, I’m going to bust it open. But, it’s going to take most of my power. Once it’s open, get to Sam and bring him to me. I can get us out of here.”  _ ‘I think.’ _

Dean nodded and took a few steps back. I took a deep breath, then focused my energy. I pictured it as a scalpel to cut through the door. 

After a few seconds, the door burst open. Dean rushed inside, I stumbled in as well and leaned against the back wall. I could see Lilith’s body in front of the altar, and Ruby and Sam on the steps. We were too late.

Dean went directly for Ruby. Sam grabbed her from behind and held her as Dean gutted her with the demon knife. 

“I’m sorry,” Sam whispered to his brother.

Dean didn’t reply and started pulling Sam towards me. We all paused a the blood from Lilith completed its circle and a column of light shot up. 

The brothers gripped at each other as the ground shook.

Dean resumed pulling on Sam. “Sammy, let's go.”

Sam allowed the pulling, but whispered, “Dean, he's coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That concludes the first installment (fourth season) of supernatural for Jade. Another will be coming at some point.


End file.
